Effect of spacer layer on flux-pinning properties of iron-based superconductors

Abstract We investigated the magnetic flux-pinning in iron-based 1111-type (REFeAsO, RE= rare earth) and 11- type (FeSe1−xTex) superconductors by third harmonic acmagnetic susceptibility measurements, a technique sensitive to the dynamics of magnetization, probing non-linear processes in flux pinning transport. Despite the larger thermal fluctuations due to the high critical temperature and large anisotropy, flux dynamics of 1111-type pnictides points out a more efficient pinning mechanism than the one in the 11-type chalcogenides. We have associated the stronger pinning in the 1111-family to the presence of REO (RE=rare earth) spacer layers separating the active FeAslayers unlike the 11-chalcogenides in which no spacer layers are present. Therefore, the disorder in the FeAs layers induced by the misfit strain due to spacer layers has an important role in the enhanced flux pinning of 1111-type superconductors.