%0 Journal Article
%A Gundareva, Irina
%A Martinez-Castro, Jose
%A Tautz, Frank Stefan
%A Mussler, Gregor
%A Jalil, Abdur Rehman
%A Hou, Xiao
%A Grützmacher, Detlev
%A Schäpers, Thomas
%A Lyatti, Matvey
%T Induced superconductivity in hybrid Au/YBa2Cu3O7−x electrodes on vicinal substrates
%J Scientific reports
%V 15
%N 1
%@ 2045-2322
%C [London]
%I Springer Nature
%M FZJ-2025-03653
%P 32282
%D 2025
%X Superconducting electrodes are an integral part of hybrid Josephson junctions used in many applications including quantum technologies. We report on the fabrication and characterization of superconducting hybrid Au/YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) electrodes on vicinal substrates. In these structures, superconducting CuO2-planes face the gold film, resulting in a higher value and smaller variation of the induced energy gap compared to conventional Au/YBCO electrodes based on films with the c-axis normal to the substrate surface. Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we observe an energy gap of about 10–17 meV at the surface of the 15- nm-thick gold layer deposited in situ atop the YBCO film. To study the origin of this gap, we fabricate nanoconstrictions from the Au/YBCO heterostructures and measure their electrical transport characteristics. The conductance of the nanoconstrictions shows a series of dips due to multiple Andreev reflections in YBCO and gold, providing clear evidence of the superconducting nature of the gap in gold. We consider the Au/YBCO electrodes to be a versatile platform for hybrid Josephson devices with a high operating temperature.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%$ 40890252
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:001565533400005
%R 10.1038/s41598-025-17434-y
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1046008