Deposition and characterization of YBCO/CeO₂/YSZ/CeO₂ multilayers on biaxially textured Ni substrates

CeO_2/YSZ/CeO_2 buffer layers were deposited on biaxially textured Ni substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The influence of the processing parameters on the texture development of the seed layer CeO_2 was investigated. Epitaxial films of YBCO were then grown in situ on the CeO_2/YSZ (yttria-stabilized ZrO_2)/CeO_2-buffered Ni substrates. The resulting YBCO conductors exhibited self-field critical current density J_\rm c of more than 1 MA/cm^2 at 77K and superconducting transition temperature T_\rm c of about 91K.