K-doped Ba122 epitaxial thin film on MgO substrate by buffer engineering

Molecular beam epitaxy of K-doped Ba122 (Ba${}_{1-x}$K${}_x$Fe${}_{\text{2}}$As${}_{\text{2}}$) superconductor was realized on a MgO substrate. Microstructural observation revealed that the undoped Ba122 served as a perfect buffer layer for epitaxial growth of the K-doped Ba122. The film exhibited a high critical temperature of 39.8 K and a high critical current density of 3.9 MA/cm${}^{\text{2}}$ at 4 K. The successful growth of epitaxial thin film will enable artificial single grain boundary on oxide bicrystal substrates and reveal the grain boundary transport nature of K-doped Ba122.