Proton irradiation enhancement of implanted layers on ceramic YBCO bulk

In this work the possibility of enhancing the critical current density in proton implanted surface layers on YBCO bulk is discussed. A complete transport characterization shows that, for what concerns two samples from different irradiation runs, the critical current density has been enhanced. Increases of other meaningful parameters, such as average pinning energy and vortex-antivortex coupling strength, have also been found, although the relative effect of the implanted layer on the whole specimen cannot be evaluated in a fully quantitative way.