Study of the local current transport properties of striated coated conductor using variable temperature scanning laser microscopy

In an AC power application, superconducting samples with relatively large aspect ratios tend to show greater hysteretic loss than their lower aspect ratio counterpart. Reducing the aspect ratio by creating striations on the sample reduces the AC loss. This is an effort to study the current transport property in the striated superconductor.; The striations in the sample were shorted by gold in different places. The sample shows characteristics of a semi-conductor, rather than a normal metal at low temperature, overlapped by superconducting properties. YBCO-metal junction has high resistance.; Bricked, and Zipper samples has the scribe with gaps in different positions. In such samples YBCO filaments are interconnected through the gaps in the scribes. The Resistance against Temperature graph showed that the resistance went close to zero below the critical temperature which is the characteristics of a superconductor. Significant resistance below critical temperature is due to bad contacts. The VTSLM images of those samples show that the current not only follows a unidirectional path but also crosses the gap from one side to the other.; AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) was used to verify the exact location of the features. The high signal area is close to the scribe in the YBCO layer.