Origin of surface morphology variation during pulsed laser deposition of YBa2Cu3O7 superconducting films

The dependence of properties in YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films grown by pulsed laser deposition at different distances from the target to a substrate has been systematically studied. The target to substrate distance DTS is shown to enable simple means for tunability of the critical current density and microstructure of the YBCO films. The variation of structural and electromagnetic properties in the films as a function of DTS has been explained in terms of laser plume propagation model and thin film formation mechanism.