Dr. Laia Soler, former PhD researcher under the supervision of Prof. Xavier Obradors and Dr. Susagna Ricart defended her PhD thesis entitled Liquid-assisted ultrafast growth of superconducting films derived from chemical solutions publicly on 1 March 2019 at the ICMAB-CSIC Auditorium.
PhD Thesis Abstract: This thesis was devoted to the growth of textured YBa2Cu3O7-x superconducting thin films. We present a novel technique that relies on the kinetic preference to form a transient liquid that assists the ultrafast growth (100nm/s) of the equilibrium phase. Transient Liquid Assisted Growth (TLAG) is combined with low cost Chemical Solution Deposition (CSD) from carboxylate solutions. This new approximation has been attained with the use of rapid thermal annealing (up to 80ºC/s). The reaction mechanisms are disclosed with in-situ analyses using infrared and X-ray diffraction. Finally, the supersaturation conditions for crystallization are tunned to nucleate the desired phase structure required to obtain good superconducting properties.
Her PhD Committee was formed by Juan-Manuel García Ruiz (IACT-CSIC, Spain), Felip Sandiumenge i Ortiz (ICMAB-CSIC, Spain) and Bartlomeij Andrezej Glowacki (University of Cambridge, UK).
From left to right: Bartlomeij Andrezej Glowacki, Juan-Manuel García , Xavier Obradors, Laia Soler, Felip Sandiumenge, Susagna Ricart and Teresa Puig (Laia’s PhD is the first PhD of Teresa’s ERC thematic)
