Laser scanning microscopy studies on detwinned YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin films

YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ thin films are heavily microtwinned due to the crystal´s orthorhombic unit cell and the confining effects of underlying substrate. Single crystal YBCO can be detwinned by thermally annealing the sample while applying uniaxial pressure. A similar technique has been devised to detwin a portion of a YBCO thin film. Through the use of photolithographic techniques, a suspended YBCO microbridge structure is fabricated, but with both ends of the bridge anchored to the substrate. During a subsequent anneal, the ends of the bridge induce a uniaxial stress along its length that arises from the lattice misfit and the thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between YBCO and the underlying materials. Without the confining effects of the substrate the suspended material can either detwin or twin on a macro length scale; the extent of which is largely determined by the substrate material. The ability to produce superconducting YBCO bridges that range from heavily microtwinned, to macrotwinned, to nearly detwinned provides an ideal experimental system. To study these phenomena, an optical and laser scanning microscopy set-up was employed. The images obtained provide insight into the role that twins play in determining the transport properties of superconducting YBCO thin films.