Interferometric, holographic techniques for Y-Ba-Cu-O film patterning

A laser single-pulse heating process was developed for the reversible patterning of YBCO thin films. The lattice, which consists of superconducting and nonsuperconducting lines, was fabricated in an area of 4*4 mm/sup 2/. The period of the lattice depended on the optical scheme and ranged between 1.5 and 40 mu m. A 1.06- mu m YAG laser, which provided 0.2-0.3 J /cm/sup 2/ power density at the film surface with a pulse duration of 10-15 ns and a coherence length close to 15 cm, was used for the patterning in the usual interferometric scheme with split beams. The result suggests that such a process, which utilizes holographic masks, can be a powerful technique for high-T/sub c/ thin-film device fabrication.