Eur. Phys. J. B 27, 467-472 (2002)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2002-00179-8

Evidence of local structural transition during oxidation process of RBCO epitaxial films using time resolved reflexafs measurements

¹ INFM and Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Piazzale Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
² Operative Group in Grenoble - IN13, BP 156x, 38042 Grenoble Cedex, France
³ European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
⁴ INFM-Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Fisiche ed Energetiche, Via di Tor Vergata s.n.c., 00133 Roma, Italy
⁵ Département de Physique de la Matière Condensée, Université de Genève, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland
⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, P.le Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy

Corresponding author: ^a salluzzo@na.infn.it

Received: 21 December 2001
Published online: 25 June 2002

Abstract

We report results of a time resolved X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) experiment on the oxidation process of epitaxial Y₁(Nd_0.05Ba_1.95)Cu₃O_x superconducting thin films. For the first time Cu K-edge XAS technique has been used to explore local structural changes around the Cu ions during the oxidation process of a high critical temperature superconducting film. The results show that during the oxygenation of a tetragonal Y₁(Nd_0.05Ba_1.95)Cu₃O_x additional local transitions appear in the orthorhombic I phase, which are not linked to long range order transformations as shown by in situ X-ray diffraction experiment. New questions concerning the dynamic microscopic process leading to the oxygenation and eventually to superconductivity of the complex RBaCu₃O_x (R = Y or rare earth) compounds arose from these results.