Effect of proton irradiation on the fluctuation-induced magnetoconductivity of FeSe_1-xTe_x thin films

The influence of the proton irradiation on the fluctuation-induced magneto-conductivity of high quality FeSe_1-xTe_x (x=0.4, 0.55) thin films has been investigated. The measurements were performed with magnetic fields up to 13 T applied in the two main crystal directions. The results were interpreted in terms of the Ginzburg-Landau approach for 3-D materials under a total-energy cutoff. The analysis shows that properly-tuned proton irradiation does not appreciably affect fundamental superconducting parameters like the T_c value, the upper critical fields or the anisotropy. This has important consequences from the point of view of possible applications due to enhancement of vortex pinning induced by irradiation.