Date of Award

1997

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

First Advisor

R. G. Goodrich

Abstract

The Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in epitaxial films of YBCO of varying thickness is studied. The phase transition is found to occur in these films in both zero fields and in perpendicular and parallel magnetic fields up to 0.5 T. In addition, the same transition is seen in a lead film of thickness less than the penetration depth in lead. This measurement is used as a calibration to determine the penetration depth in YBCO for both the zero-field case and perpendicular-field case. Once the penetration depth is determined, the effective thickness of the superconducting layer is calculated for all the films. The effective thickness is determined to be approximately 181 A in zero external field and 177 A in perpendicular fields, independent of film thickness.

ISBN

9780591724080

Pages

113

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.6588

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