• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.106-111
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• 2010

Sapphire resonators with $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}$ (YBCO) endplates have provided a way to realize extremely high quality factor due to the extremely low dielectric loss of sapphire and conductive loss of YBCO films, which enables to measure the low surface resistance of superconductor films at microwave frequencies. We present microwave properties of HTS sapphire resonators designed for measuring the surface resistance of HTS films at millimeter-wave frequencies by using the two-resonance mode dielectric resonator method. Despite enhanced surface resistance ($R_S$) of YBCO films due to the quadratic frequency dependence of the $R_S$, the unloaded quality factor ($Q_0$) of the $TE_{021}$ mode sapphire resonator still appears to be well above $1\;{\times}\;10^6$ at a mm-wave frequency of 38 GHz at 10 K. However, it appears that the $TE_{012}$ mode $Q_0$ is unexpectedly low despite that the corresponding resonance peak looks uncoupled with parasitic modes. We discuss possible reasons for the unexpected results using the surface resistance at the $TE_{021}$, $TE_{012}$, and $TE_{011}$ mode frequencies.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2017

The effects of the crystallographic orientation and sample thickness on the magnetic levitation forces (F) and trapped magnetic field (B) of single grain YBCO bulk superconductors were examined. Single grain YBCO samples with a (001), (110) or (100) surface were used as the test samples. The samples used for the force-distance (F-d) measurement were cooled at 77 K without a magnetic field (zero field cooling, ZFC), whereas the samples used for the B measurement were cooled under the external magnetic field of a Nd-B-Fe permanent magnet (field cooling, FC). It was found that F and B of the (001) surface were higher than those of the (110) or (100) surface, which is attributed to the higher critical current density ($J_c$) of the (001) surface. For the (001) samples with t=5-18 mm, the maximum magnetic levitation forces ($F_{max}s$) of the ZFC samples were larger than 40 N. About 80% of the applied magnetic field was trapped in the FC samples. However, the F and B decreased rapidly as t decreased below 5 mm. There exists a critical sample thickness (t=5 mm for the experimental condition of this study) for maintaining the large levitation/trapping properties, which is dependent on the material properties and magnitude of the external magnetic fields.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.65-70
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• 2006

We fabricated $YBa_2Cu_33O_{7-x}$(YBCO) films on(00l) $LaAlO_3$ substrates prepared by metal organic deposition(MOD) method using trifluoroacetate(TFA) solution and evaluated the effects of the humidity on the microstructure, phase purity, and critical properties. The films calcined at $430^{\circ}C$ were fired at $775^{\circ}C$ at 0%, 4.2%, 12.1%, and 20.0% humidified As gas mixed with 0.1% $O_2$. We observed that the amount of $BaF_2$ phase was effectively reduced and that a sharp and strong biaxial texture formed under a humidified atmosphere, leading to increased critical properties. For the films fired at 0% humidity, the $T_c\;and\;I_c$ were undetectably small. When the humidity was increased to 4.2%, the corresponding $T_c$(onset) and $I_c$ were increased to 90.5 K and 8 A/cm-width, respectively. For the films at the humidity range of 12.1-20.0%, the $I_c$ was found to be 35 A/cm-width. According to the results of the XRD, pole-figure, and SEM, these improved critical properties are probably attributed to the formation of a purer YBCO phase, larger grain size, and stronger c-axis orientation.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2012

Microwave metrology for the thickness of metallic or superconductive films provides a new way to measure the film thickness in a non-invasive way by using microwave resonators, with the measurement accuracy affected by standard uncertainties in the resonator quality factor, temperature-dependent resonant frequency and the dimensions of the resonators. Here we study effects of the standard uncertainty in the thickness, $t_{cal}$, of a calibration $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-{\delta}}$ (YBCO) film on the measured thicknesses, $t_{RF}$, by using a ~ 40 GHz microwave resonator. For the study, we used five YBCO films having the thicknesses of 70 - 360 nm, for which relative standard uncertainties in $t_{RF}$ due to that in $t_{cal}$ are obtained. The standard uncertainty in $t_{cal}$ was determined with the surface roughness of the film taken into account. It appeared that relative standard uncertainty in $t_{cal}$ significantly affects the $t_{RF}$ values, with the values of 1% (5%) in the former resulting in those of 1-2% (5-9%) for the latter at 10 K. Our results show that, for realizing relative standard uncertainties less than 5% in $t_{RF}$ for all the YBCO films, the surface roughness of the calibration films should be small enough to realize a relative standard uncertainty of less than 2.7% in $t_{cal}$.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2011

In the dielectric resonator method, which has been widely used for measuring the microwave surface resistance of superconductors, accuracies in the geometrical factors (G-factors) affect the uncertainty in the measured surface resistance. We compare the G-factors of short-ended sapphire resonator as obtained by using field analysis with those by using computer simulations: The former is obtained by using the analytic expressions for the electric and the magnetic field components inside the resonator, and the latter by using computer software. The G-factors as obtained by using the latter appear to be closer to those obtained by using the former as the resonator space is divided into larger number of sub-space, i.e., a tighter mesh, with a difference of ~8 % observed for a mesh of 14400 sub-spaces reduced to ~2 % for 114996 sub-spaces. Variations in the relative uncertainty in the surface resistance of typical $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}$ superconductor films with those in the G-factors are studied, which provides an upper limit of the relative uncertainty in the G-factors required for realizing the target uncertainty in the surface resistance. These results could be useful in estimating the optimum number of meshes for obtaining the G-factors through computer simulations.