Probing Electromigration of Oxygen Vacancies in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ Devices by Multimodal X-ray Techniques

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Autori principali: Quaglio-Gomes, Caio C., Marinković, Stefan, Abbey, Elijah A., Chaves, Davi A. D., Palau, Anna, Silhanek, Alejandro V., Schio, Pedro, Motta, Maycon
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Quaglio-Gomes, Caio C.
Marinković, Stefan
Abbey, Elijah A.
Chaves, Davi A. D.
Palau, Anna
Silhanek, Alejandro V.
Schio, Pedro
Motta, Maycon
author_facet Quaglio-Gomes, Caio C.
Marinković, Stefan
Abbey, Elijah A.
Chaves, Davi A. D.
Palau, Anna
Silhanek, Alejandro V.
Schio, Pedro
Motta, Maycon
contents Control of oxygen vacancies by electrical currents in complex oxides such as YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ (YBCO) has attracted considerable interest due to the relative simplicity of its implementation and its potential for both fundamental studies and the tuning of superconducting device properties. However, the structural evolution and depth-dependent effects associated with current-based techniques remain largely unexplored, particularly with respect to the connection between optical signatures and the spatial distribution of oxygen vacancies. Here, we combine nanoprobe X-ray Diffraction (NanoXRD), Cu K-edge X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), electrical transport, and optical measurements to reveal modifications induced in YBCO microbridges by pulsed electromigration. We observe a c-axis expansion correlated with spectroscopic features of oxygen depletion in the Cu-O chains, and we confirm that oxygen redistribution, crystallographic changes, and copper coordination evolve consistently across techniques. Notably, the spatial profile of unit-cell expansion closely follows the optical contrast observed after electromigration, demonstrating that the different signatures capture the same underlying oxygen reordering. We further show that optical microscopy cannot reliably capture bipolar electromigration involving strong resistance modifications, as surface deoxygenation appears largely irreversible. Taken together, our findings provide a significant step toward a microscopic understanding of current-assisted oxygen migration in YBCO and establish a framework for effectively exploiting vacancy control in high-temperature superconducting devices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_22635
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Probing Electromigration of Oxygen Vacancies in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ Devices by Multimodal X-ray Techniques
Quaglio-Gomes, Caio C.
Marinković, Stefan
Abbey, Elijah A.
Chaves, Davi A. D.
Palau, Anna
Silhanek, Alejandro V.
Schio, Pedro
Motta, Maycon
Superconductivity
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Control of oxygen vacancies by electrical currents in complex oxides such as YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ (YBCO) has attracted considerable interest due to the relative simplicity of its implementation and its potential for both fundamental studies and the tuning of superconducting device properties. However, the structural evolution and depth-dependent effects associated with current-based techniques remain largely unexplored, particularly with respect to the connection between optical signatures and the spatial distribution of oxygen vacancies. Here, we combine nanoprobe X-ray Diffraction (NanoXRD), Cu K-edge X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), electrical transport, and optical measurements to reveal modifications induced in YBCO microbridges by pulsed electromigration. We observe a c-axis expansion correlated with spectroscopic features of oxygen depletion in the Cu-O chains, and we confirm that oxygen redistribution, crystallographic changes, and copper coordination evolve consistently across techniques. Notably, the spatial profile of unit-cell expansion closely follows the optical contrast observed after electromigration, demonstrating that the different signatures capture the same underlying oxygen reordering. We further show that optical microscopy cannot reliably capture bipolar electromigration involving strong resistance modifications, as surface deoxygenation appears largely irreversible. Taken together, our findings provide a significant step toward a microscopic understanding of current-assisted oxygen migration in YBCO and establish a framework for effectively exploiting vacancy control in high-temperature superconducting devices.
title Probing Electromigration of Oxygen Vacancies in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ Devices by Multimodal X-ray Techniques
topic Superconductivity
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.22635