Vortices at planar defects in layered superconductors

Images of interlayer josephson vortices in Tl2Ba2CuO6+delta

The strength of the interlayer Josephson tunneling in layered superconductors is an essential test of the interlayer tunneling model as a mechanism for superconductivity, as well as a useful phenomenological parameter. A scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) microscope was used to image interlayer Josephson vortices in Tl2Ba2CuO6+delta and to obtain a direct measure of the interlayer tunneling in a high-transition temperature superconductor with a single copper oxide plane per unit cell. The measured interlayer penetration depth, lambdac, is approximately 20 micrometers, about 20 times the penetration depth required by the interlayer tunneling model.