Transport Properties of YBCO Nanowires

We have carried out transport studies of YBa
₂
Cu
₃
O
_7-x
(YBCO) nanowires. By exposing nanowires with microwaves, we see that short wires which have a flux-flow like current-voltage characteristic (IVC) clearly manifest current steps in the IVC (Shapiro steps). On the contrary, the longer wires exhibiting a resistively and capacitively shunted junction (RCSJ) model like current-voltage characteristic do not feature any Shapiro steps. The second case can be explained by taking into consideration the longer wire lengths where the wires loose coherency of flux flow due to inhomogeneity along the wire.