Heteroepitaxial growth of strained multilayer superconducting thin films of Nd1.83Ce0.17CuOx/YBa2Cu3O7-

Heteroepitaxial growth of strained multilayer thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-/Nd1.83Ce0.17CuOx by pulsed-laser deposition is reported. The coherency strain results in biaxial compression of the tetragonal Nd1.83Ce0.17CuOx layers, whereas the biaxial tension in the YBa2Cu3O7- layers removes the orthorhombic distortion and makes the unit cell isotropic in the basal plane (a=b). Depending on their oxygen content, either the YBa2Cu3O7- or the Nd1.83Ce0.17CuOx layers are superconducting in these multilayers. The strain-induced structural modification has a significant influence on the superconducting transition temperature of the YBa2Cu3O7- layers. © 1990 The American Physical Society.