Enhanced the in-field critical current in thick MOD-YBCO films via energy-controlled Xe ion irradiation

This study systematically investigates the effects of 45 MeV and 85 MeV Xe ions irradiation on the in-field performance and defect structures of 3.5 μm-thick MOD-YBCO superconducting tapes. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations reveal that 85 MeV irradiation produces continuous columnar tracks, while 45 MeV irradiation mainly generates discontinuous tracks. In-field transport measurements show that the critical current of the sample has increased by 2.4 times at 4.2 K and 10 T, from 354 A-4mm of the original sample to 874 A-4mm after 45MeV irradiation (fluence: 2×10 11 ions/cm 2 ), indicating a significant improvement in the field-dependent critical current density. XRD and Raman analyses further demonstrate that irradiation leads to lattice expansion along the c -axis and the formation of oxygen vacancies, enhancing flux pinning capability. This work confirms that the defect architecture can be effectively optimized by controllably tuning irradiated energy and fluence, thereby substantially improving the high-field current-carrying performance of thick YBCO tapes and providing key experimental evidence for their engineering applications in high magnetic fields.