Sharif Digital Repository

Detectivity optimization of large-area freestanding-type YBCO superconducting bolometric detectors is theoretically and experimentally investigated. The effect of the device thermal parameters on the theoretical total noise-equivalent power based on background radiation, thermal fluctuation, and Johnson noise is considered. By analytical optimization of the total noise-equivalent power (NEP) of the device with respect to the thermal parameters and radiation modulation frequency, the maximum sensitivity and optimal thermal parameters of the bolometric detector are obtained. Relating device thermal parameters to the special case of the large substrate dimensions, the optimum device geometry is... 

We have investigated the dependence of the optimal Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) characterization on different excitation parameters in an eddy current SQUID NDE system for samples with known flaw depths. The considered parameters in our study include the configuration of the excitation-coil and its current frequency. The system is based on a High-YBCO gradiometer RF-SQUID sensor with a flux noise level below 100 μa I-y/Hz at 100 Hz in an unshielded environment, while being shielded against external rf EMI (Electromagnetic Interference). According to experimental results and the associated numerical analysis using Finite element (FEM) simulations, we have derived the optimized parameters... 

The phase formation and the variation of the normal phonon frequencies of high temperature superconductors YBa2Cu3O7-δ and GdBa2Cu3O7-δ upon doping Tb and Ce for Y and Gd, respectively, have been investigated using XRD and Raman spectroscopy measurements. It is found that the increase of doping content causes the formation of impurity phases that can be detected in the XRD and Raman spectra, and results in the suppression of superconductivity. Moreover, analysis of the Raman peaks reveals that substitutions of Tb and Ce for Y and Gd in the parent structure are restricted to low concentrations in favor of impurity island formation. © 2008  

We present an analytical thermal model to explain the crosstalk in YBCO edge-transition bolometer arrays. The verification of the model was tested on sample array devices made of 200 and 400 nm YBCO films on LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 substrates. The model presented was able to explain the effects of the various physical parameters of the devices, such as the film thickness, operating temperature, and the device separation, which cause different response behaviours based on the variation of the related thermal crosstalk characteristics. In addition, the model is valid above the crosstalk-free modulation frequencies, where the effects of the thermal crosstalk on the response of the devices are... 

By fabrication of several bolometric detectors on the YBCO film made of Metal-Organic Deposition (MOD) and the effect of pattering and film parameters on the optical responsivity of transition edge sensors is investigated. The low cost nonfluorine (MOD) method has been applied to fabricate YBCO thin films with different patterning parameters. The measurement results of the optical responsivity versus modulation frequency up to 100 KHz for these devices are reported  

A RF SQUID electronic system has been implemented which works at the frequency range of 650MHz to 1GHz. By incorporating particle swarm algorithm for the optimization of the system parameters, the readout system could automatically set its parameters for a desired RF SQUID. Using the implemented system, the noise characteristics of a RF SQUID gradiometer is being measured. The measured flux noise of the High-Tc YBCO magnetometer is below 100μ Φ0/ √ Hz at 100Hz in unshielded environment  

The effect on the thermal parameters of superconducting transition-edge bolometers produced on a single crystalline SrTiO3 (STO) substrate with and without a CeO2 buffer layer was investigated. Metal-organic deposition was used to deposit the 20-nm CeO2 buffer layer, whereas RF magnetron sputtering was applied to fabricate 150-nm-thick superconducting YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) thin film. The critical transition temperature for both of the YBCO films was 90 K, and the transition width was ∼1.9 K. The bolometers fabricated from these samples were characterized with respect to the voltage phase and amplitude responses, and the results were compared with that of simulations conducted by applying a... 

In order to achieve stable operation for a developed high-Tc SQUID-based magnetocardiography system, a two-stage active magnetic shielding technique is implemented. This technique is based on a combination of fluxgate and high-Tc SQUID magnetometers feedback loops. While two YBCO rf SQUIDs in a gradiometric configuration are used at liquid Nitrogen temperature as the main sensors for the heart signal detection and low-amplitude noise signals cancellation in one stage, a fluxgate is used to cancel large far-field environmental noise in the other stage feedback loop. The fluxgate sensors working in the fundamental mode under the optimized bias conditions have white noise levels less than 10... 

YBaCu2O5 compound as one of the possible microstructures of Y3Ba5Cu8O19 has been synthesized. The X-ray diffraction analysis of this compound indicates that its formation is accompanied with the formation of YBa2Cu3O7-δ. The observed superconductivity around ∼92 K supports this. So, it seems that YBa2Cu3O7-δ is responsible for the observed superconductivity in YBaCu2O5, and this phase is not an independent superconducting phase. Consequently, the overall effect of the YBaCu2O5 formation during the Y3Ba5Cu8O19 fabrication process could be a reduction in Tc. © 2018 Elsevier B.V  

An investigation has been carried out on the effects of praseodymium doping in Sm3−xPrxBa5Cu8O19 for different values of x. Results indicate that the transition temperature reduces almost linearly with x. Based on the Abrikosov–Gor’kov pair-breaking theory, it has been concluded that the exchange interaction constant is large (Jex = 110 meV) in the Sm3Ba5Cu8O19 compound. In addition, it seems that the hybridization of Pr4f states with O2p–Cu3d states has an important role in the depression of transition temperature of Sm3−xPrxBa5Cu8O19 for the Pr content < 10%. However, for the higher values of Pr, the two observed plateaus at the transition temperatures of ~ 60 K and ~ 17 K, respectively,... 

The bond valence sum method has been developed to high pressures considering B0(p) for calculating the valences of atoms. This approach has the advantages of finding a universal B0(P) for all the atoms -at least in YBCO, ability to evaluate the valency of each atom, and charge neutrality requirement of the unit cell. As a result, a new structural refinement has led to a more exact structural detail. The position of apical oxygen is found to be specially crucial for hole distribution between the superconducting CuO2 planes and Cu-O charge reservoir chains. Under pressure, the hole concentration in CuO2 planes increases, but in the Cu-O chains decreases, consistent with the pressure induced... 

Epitaxial cerium oxide (CeO2) buffer layer has been grown on lanthanum aluminate (LAO) single crystal substrates for fabrication of c-axis oriented YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO). Precursor solution of cerium acetylacetonates with viscosity of 0.6 centipoises was spin coated on the 1×1 cm area LAO substrates. The calcination was carried out by very slow ramp (1°C per minute) until the final temperature of 500°C in oxygen flow to remove most of the organic compounds. The final heat treatment has been done at 780°C by a ramp of 20° per minute in gas flow of mixed argon-oxygen with 5 Pa partial pressure of oxygen. The thickness of the deposited CeO2 buffer layer was 20 nm. Then, 100 nm thick YBCO film was... 

We theoretically demonstrate the tunabiltiy of terahertz random lasers composed of high temperature superconductor YBCO and ruby layers as active medium. The considered system is a one-dimensional disordered medium made of ruby grain and YBCO. Finite-difference time domain method is used to calculate the emission spectrum and spatial distribution of electric field at different temperatures. Our numerical results reveal that the superconductor based random lasers exhibit large temperature tunability in the terahertz domain. The emission spectrum is significantly temperature dependent, the number of lasing modes and their intensities increase with decreasing temperature. Also, we make some... 

The application of flat superconductor rings has been investigated in the structure of inductive shield-type high temperature superconducting fault current limiters, HT c-SFCL. A laboratory scale inductive shield-type HT c-SFCL has been designed and fabricated using flat superconductor rings. The fabrication process has been fully presented. YBCO powder has been used for the fabrication of superconductor rings. This fabrication process, being quite innovative, is introduced completely. The method of the trapped field measurement has been used for the critical current density measurement of the fabricated superconductor rings. The device with nominal current of 2 A was tested in a 30 V... 

The noise level of the magnetometer and gradiometer RF SQUIDs were investigated using different shielding methods. The used methods include different active and passive shielding, such as Helmholtz configurations, locally compensation coils, superconducting bulks and μ-metal shields. For the passive shielding approach, using FEM simulation we have investigated the shielding effectiveness of superconducting bulks versus the use of μ-metal shielding. The superconducting shield is a YBCO circular bulk, which was made using melt-texture method and located in a distance in front of the SQUID. In this work the results of these shielding methods are presented and compared, while their effectiveness... 

Incorporating an efficient approach for the finite-element simulation of eddy current superconductive quantum interface device (SQUID) nondestructive evaluation (NDE) systems, an appropriate finite-element method (FEM) has been presented for simulating and analyzing such systems. We have introduced a new model for the planar double-D coils, which are used as the excitation source in eddy current SQUID NDE systems, and also another model for the description of the flaw effect on the induced current. We have also examined our simulation results with their associated measurements. Our system is based on a high-TC YBCO gradiometer RF-SQUID sensor with a flux noise level below 100 μΦ0 √Hz at 100... 

We report the results of the electronic structure calculation of a newly discovered member of the YBCO high-T c family, i.e., Y 3Ba 5Cu 8O 18 (Y358) with T c>100, based on the full-potential linearized augmented plane waves method (FP-LAPW) of density functional theory in the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The evolution of the number of hole carriers in different sites of the CuO 2 planes and CuO chains has been investigated in comparison with the other YBCO family members, i.e., Y123, Pr123, Y124, and Y247. The results suggest that pumping hole carriers out of the chains toward the planes enhances the transition temperature. The band structure calculations have been performed for... 

In order to achieve stable operation for a developed high-Tc SQUID-based magnetocardiography system, a two-stage active magnetic shielding technique is implemented. This technique is based on a combination of fluxgate and high-Tc SQUID magnetometers feedback loops. While two YBCO rf SQUIDs in a gradiometric configuration are used at liquid Nitrogen temperature as the main sensors for the heart signal detection and low-amplitude noise signals cancellation in one stage, a fluxgate is used to cancel large far-field environmental noise in the other stage feedback loop. The fluxgate sensors working in the fundamental mode under the optimized bias conditions have white noise levels less than 10... 

The authors propose a new design for monolayer superconducting planar flux transformer integrated with a coplanar resonator serving as a gigahertz range tank circuit for high-Tc rf-SQUID magnetometers. Based on the proposed design, which is optimized using the finite element method, the transformer-resonator configuration is made of 200-nm-thick monolayer YBCO film on a crystalline LaAlO3 substrate. In this optimized design, the SQUID magnetometer is coupled through flip-chip configuration with the configuration providing high coupling coefficient between the devices. The design permits coupling of the rf signals to the SQUID efficiently, whereas the transformer is designed to couple the dc... 

We present a new approach for depth detection of hidden defects based on the analysis of the frequency spectrum of the output waveform in a nondestructive testing (NDT) system. In our eddy current Superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) based NDT system, we apply multiple frequencies to its single excitation coil in a magnetically unshielded environment. The excitation coil is a planar D-shaped printed circuit board coil, and a high-Tc gradiometer YBCO rf-SQUID is used as the electromagnetic sensor in this system. An automated two-dimensional nonmagnetic scanning robot is used to test samples with intentional defects at different depths. In this approach, a diagram labeled 'FFT...