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We studied the impact of soft ferromagnetic permalloy (Py) on the shielding currents in a strong-pinning superconductor—YBa _2 Cu _3 O _7− _δ with Ba _2 Y(Nb/Ta)O _6 nano-precipitates—by means of scanning transmission x-ray microscopy. Typically and in particular when in the thin film limit, superconductor/ferromagnet (SC/FM) bilayers exhibit isotropic properties of the flux line ensemble at all temperatures. However, in elements with small aspect ratio a significant anisotropy in flux penetration is observed. We explain this effect by local in-plane fields arising from anisotropic magnetic stray fields originated by the ferromagnet. This leads to direction-dependent motion of magnetic vortices inside the SC/FM bilayer. Our results demonstrate that small variations of the magnetic properties can have huge impact on the superconductor.

Magnetic imaging of superconductors typically requires a soft-magnetic material placed on top of the superconductor to probe local magnetic fields. For reasonable results the influence of the magnet onto the superconductor has to be small. Thin YBCO films with soft-magnetic coatings are investigated using SQUID magnetometry. Detailed measurements of the magnetic moment as a function of temperature, magnetic field and time have been performed for different heterostructures. It is found that the modification of the superconducting transport in these heterostructures strongly depends on the magnetic and structural properties of the soft-magnetic material. This effect is especially pronounced for an inhomogeneous coating consisting of ferromagnetic nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]