Granular superconductivity and magnetic-field-driven recovery of macroscopic coherence in a cuprate/manganite multilayer

We show that in Pr0.5La0.2Ca0.3MnO₃/YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (PLCMO/YBCO) multilayers the low temperature state of YBCO is very resistive and resembles that of a granular superconductor or a frustrated Josephson-junction network. Notably, a coherent superconducting response can be restored with a large magnetic field which also suppresses the charge-orbital order in PLCMO. This coincidence suggests that the granular superconducting state of YBCO is induced by the charge-orbital order of PLCMO. The coupling mechanism and the nature of the induced inhomogeneous state in YBCO remain to be understood.