Vortices in small superconducting disks

We study the Ginzburg-Landau equations in order to describe a two-dimensional superconductor in a bounded domain. Using the properties of a particular integrability point ($\kappa = 1/ \sqrt2$) of these nonlinear equations which allows vortex solutions, we obtain a closed expression for the energy of the superconductor. The presence of the boundary provides a selection mechanism for the number of vortices. A perturbation analysis around $\kappa = 1/ \sqrt2$ enables us to include the effects of the vortex interactions and to describe quantitatively the magnetization curves recently measured on small superconducting disks. We also calculate the optimal vortex configuration and obtain an expression for the confining potential away from the London limit.Comment: 4 pages, to be published in Physica C (Superconductivity

Vortices in Ginzburg-Landau billiards

We present an analysis of the Ginzburg-Landau equations for the description of a two-dimensional superconductor in a bounded domain. Using the properties of a special integrability point of these equations which allows vortex solutions, we obtain a closed expression for the energy of the superconductor. The role of the boundary of the system is to provide a selection mechanism for the number of vortices. A geometrical interpretation of these results is presented and they are applied to the analysis of the magnetization recently measured on small superconducting disks. Problems related to the interaction and nucleation of vortices are discussed.Comment: RevTex, 17 pages, 3 eps figure

Vortex nucleation through edge states in finite Bose-Einstein condensates

We study the vortex nucleation in a finite Bose-Einstein condensate. Using a set of non-local and chiral boundary conditions to solve the Schr$\ddot{o}$dinger equation of non-interacting bosons in a rotating trap, we obtain a quantitative expression for the characteristic angular velocity for vortex nucleation in a condensate which is found to be 35% of the transverse harmonic trapping frequency.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures. Both figures and the text have been revise

Mesoscopic superconductors in the London limit: equilibrium properties and metastability

We present a study of the behaviour of metastable vortex states in mesoscopic superconductors. Our analysis relies on the London limit within which it is possible to derive closed analytical expressions for the magnetic field and the Gibbs free energy. We consider in particular the situation where the vortices are symmetrically distributed along a closed ring. There, we obtain expressions for the confining Bean-Livingston barrier and for the magnetization which turns out to be paramagnetic away from thermodynamic equilibrium. At low temperature, the barrier is high enough for this regime to be observable. We propose also a local description of both thermodynamic and metastable states based on elementary topological considerations; we find structural phase transitions of vortex patterns between these metastable states and we calculate the corresponding critical fields.Comment: 24 pages, 20 figure

A dual point description of mesoscopic superconductors

We present an analysis of the magnetic response of a mesoscopic superconductor, i.e. a system of sizes comparable to the coherence length and to the London penetration depth. Our approach is based on special properties of the two dimensional Ginzburg-Landau equations, satisfied at the dual point $(\kappa = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}).$ Closed expressions for the free energy and the magnetization of the superconductor are derived. A perturbative analysis in the vicinity of the dual point allows us to take into account vortex interactions, using a new scaling result for the free energy. In order to characterize the vortex/current interactions, we study vortex configurations that are out of thermodynamical equilibrium. Our predictions agree with the results of recent experiments performed on mesoscopic aluminium disks.Comment: revtex, 20 pages, 9 figure