State-of-the-art flux pinning in YBa2Cu3O7 − δby the creation of highly linear, segmented nanorods of Ba2(Y /Gd)(Nb/Ta)O6together with nanoparticles of (Y /Gd)2O3and (Y /Gd)Ba2Cu4O8

Self-assembled, segmented nanorods of c -axis-aligned Ba 2 (Y /Gd)(Nb/Ta)O 6 as well as randomly distributed nanoparticles of (Y /Gd) 2 O 3 and (Y /Gd)Ba 2 Cu 4 O 8 were grown into YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 − δ (YBCO) thin films by pulsed-laser deposition. The complex pinning landscape proves to be extremely effective, particularly at higher fields where the segmented vortices yield a plateau in critical current density ( J c ) with field angle around 60°. In 0.3 µm thick films, the J c values are higher than 1 MA cm − 2 at 2.5 T ( axis). Owing to the combined interactions of the vortices with the different pinning centres, interesting new features are observed at high fields in the angular dependence of J c .