Deposition of thick superconducting YBCO films using the surface laser heating

Abstract Cost reduction of REBa2Cu3O y (REBCO) coated conductors (CCs) is of interest in the recent applications. To improve the production speed of REBCO CCs is one solution to reduce costs. The larger I c with the thick REBCO layer is one solution to improve the production speed because the amount of REBCO CCs required for applications reduces. It is important that the deposition of the REBCO layer at a sufficiently high temperature for thick film. Therefore, various heating methods have been studied. In this study, we combined the conventional resistance heating with the laser heating to the surface of the CCs by using an infrared CW laser. As results, the a-axis oriented grains were suppressed with the laser heating. Furthermore, we have achieved I c values of up to 1500 A/cm-width at 77K and under a self-field in the YBCO films with a thickness of 8 µm.