Topic: Microstructure Engineering of Superconducting Thin Films and Interfaces

Superconducting thin films provide a key platform for studying quantum materials and enabling advanced electronic and quantum devices. Their superconducting properties are highly sensitive to microstructural features such as epitaxial strain, defects, interfaces, and compositional variations.

Recent advances in thin-film growth and characterization techniques, including epitaxial deposition and high-throughput combinatorial methods, have greatly improved the ability to control and probe microstructures at the atomic scale. These developments provide powerful tools for exploring structure-property relationships and uncovering emergent phenomena in high-temperature superconductors and related systems.

This Special Issue focuses on the design, fabrication, characterization, and modeling of superconducting thin films from a microstructural perspective. We particularly welcome contributions on interface engineering, defect control, strain tuning, compositionally graded films, and their impact on superconducting properties. Studies exploring device-oriented applications, such as superconducting electronics and microwave devices, are also encouraged.

This issue aims to advance the fundamental understanding of how microstructure governs superconductivity in thin-film systems and to support the development of next-generation superconducting materials and devices.

Superconducting thin films, microstructure engineering, epitaxial growth, interfaces, defects, strain effects, high-temperature superconductors, structure-property relationships, quantum materials, superconducting devices