Critical current behaviour of YBCO thin films described by vortex pinning on low-angle domain boundaries and vortex creep

A pinning potential for vortices was introduced assuming plastic pinning of vortex lattice on chains of out-of-plane individual edge dislocations that form low-angle domain boundaries in high quality YBa2Cu3O7 thin films. Using this pinning potential with the classical Kim–Anderson vortex creep approach a model for critical current dependence on field has been successfully developed. The model shows a plausible description of Jc(Ba) over the entire field range. Electrical field criterion is incorporated providing the ability to compare measurements made with different criteria (including different measurement techniques). Applicability of this model has been verified by experimental data obtained by direct transport and magnetisation measurements on high quality films grown by pulsed laser deposition. Pinning potential obtained from the fitting procedure is consistent with theoretical predictions. The model showed that the effective pinning landscape changes under influence of external conditions.