Anisotropy and strength of vortex pinning centers in YBa2Cu3O7−x coated conductors

An experimental powerful methodology is proposed to evaluate and quantify the anisotropy and strength of the different pinning contributions of YBa2Cu3O7−x coated conductors by combining angular dependent in-field critical current measurements in the whole temperature range. A clear separation between isotropic and anisotropic pinning centers and a further classification into weak and strong pinning centers are performed. These analyses envision to establish a correlation between defect microstructure and critical currents which is essential for artificial engineering high-performance nanostructured coated conductors.