Local structural study of commercial grade MBa₂Cu₃O_7-x (M = Y and/or Gd) coated conductors by polarized raman spectroscopy

In 1987, M. K. Wu and Paul Chu discovered Y_1.2Ba_0.8CuO₄ (YBCO) with critical temperature (Tc) of 93 K. It has significantly lowered the cost of cooling of a material up to the point where superconductivity set in. Utilizing the cost reduction of attaining superconductivity and the vast amount of research to understand characteristics of high temperature oxide superconducting materials, there has been effort to use a high temperature superconductor as a coated conductor. It is important to characterize the materials precisely for stable performance before commercializing. We used polarized Raman scattering spectroscopy to study structural and stoichiometric information regarding YBa²Cu³O^7-x, GdYBa₂Cu₃O_7-x, and GdBa₂Cu₃O_7-x produced by three leading groups of producing commercial grade high temperature superconductor coated conductors American Superconductor Corporation, Superpower, and SuNAM.