Near-field microscopy investigation of laser-deposited coated conductors

Short-length prototypes of coated conductors consisting of YBa2Cu3O7-x/yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YBCO/YSZ) bilayers have been fabricated by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) onto biaxially textured NiFe substrates. Scanning probe microscopy has been used for a detailed investigation of local sample properties. In particular, near-field scanning optical microscopy has been exploited to reconstruct a high resolution map of the surface optical scattering properties, which can be related to fluctuations of oxygen stoichiometry at the grain space scale.