Artificial pinning center technology to enhance vortex pinning in YBCO coated conductors

Crystalline defects on the nano-scale, which are called artificial pinning centers (APCs), were successfully introduced into high-temperature superconductors (HTS) by nanotechnology, in order to strongly pin the quantized vortices. The critical current densities, J(c), of the HTS films were dramatically improved by APCs. It is possible to form APCs in high-quality epitaxial films, keeping the desired dimensionality, volume fraction, spatial distribution and so on. The in-field J(c) of HTS films at 77 K was improved by one order of magnitude compared with previous values using APCs. This technology can be applied to the coated conductor technology in progress, and a high J(c) has already been reported. A current outline of the research is described in this review.