Abstract
We employed a scanning Hall probe microscope to detect the hopping of individual vortices between pinning sites along grain boundaries in YBa2Cu3O6+δ thin films in the presence of an applied current. Detecting the motion of individual vortices allowed us to probe the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the grain boundary with voltage sensitivity below a femtovolt. We find a very sharp onset of dissipation with V∝In with an unprecedented high exponent of n ≈ 290 that shows essentially no dependence on temperature or grain boundary angle. Our data have no straightforward explanation within the existing grain boundary transport models.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Article number | 202504 |
Journal | Applied physics letters |
Volume | 94 |
Issue number | 20 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2009 |