30 research outputs found
Hall potentiometer in the ballistic regime
We demonstrate theoretically how a two-dimensional electron gas can be used
to probe local potential profiles using the Hall effect. For small magnetic
fields, the Hall resistance is inversely proportional to the average potential
profile in the Hall cross and is independent of the shape and the position of
this profile in the junction. The bend resistance, on the other hand, is much
more sensitive on the exact details of the local potential profile in the cross
junction.Comment: 3 pages, 4 ps figure
Saddle point states and energy barriers for vortex entrance and exit in superconducting disks and rings
The transitions between the different vortex states of thin mesoscopic
superconducting disks and rings are studied using the non-linear
Ginzburg-Landau functional. They are saddle points of the free energy
representing the energy barrier which has to be overcome for transition between
the different vortex states. In small superconducting disks and rings the
saddle point state between two giant vortex states, and in larger systems the
saddle point state between a multivortex state and a giant vortex state and
between two multivortex states is obtained. The shape and the height of the
nucleation barrier is investigated for different disk and ring configurations.Comment: 10 pages, 18 figure
From vortex molecules to the Abrikosov lattice in thin mesoscopic superconducting disks
Stable vortex states are studied in large superconducting thin disks (for
numerical purposes we considered with radius R = 50 \xi). Configurations
containing more than 700 vortices were obtained using two different approaches:
the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory and the London approximation. To
obtain better agreement with results from the GL theory we generalized the
London theory by including the spatial variation of the order parameter
following Clem's ansatz. We find that configurations calculated in the London
limit are also stable within the Ginzburg-Landau theory for up to ~ 230
vortices. For large values of the vorticity (typically, L > 100), the vortices
are arranged in an Abrikosov lattice in the center of the disk, which is
surrounded by at least two circular shells of vortices. A Voronoi construction
is used to identify the defects present in the ground state vortex
configurations. Such defects cluster near the edge of the disk, but for large L
also grain boundaries are found which extend up to the center of the disk.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, RevTex4, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Stationary phase slip state in quasi-one-dimensional rings
The nonuniform superconducting state in a ring in which the order parameter
vanishing at one point is studied. This state is characterized by a jump of the
phase by at the point where the order parameter becomes zero. In uniform
rings such a state is a saddle-point state and consequently unstable. However,
for non-uniform rings with e.g. variations of geometrical or physical
parameters or with attached wires this state can be stabilized and may be
realized experimentally.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, RevTex 4.0 styl
Effects of thermal fluctuations on the magnetic behavior of mesoscopic superconductors
We study the influence of thermal fluctuations on the magnetic behavior of
square mesoscopic superconductors. The strength of thermal fluctuations are
parameterized using the Ginzburg number, which is small () in low- superconductors and large in high- superconductors
(). For low- mesoscopic superconductors we found that
the meta-stable states due to the surface barrier have a large half-life time,
which leads to the hysteresis in the magnetization curves as observed
experimentally. A very different behavior appears for high- mesoscopic
superconductors where thermally activated vortex entrance/exit through surface
barriers is frequent. This leads to a reduction of the magnetization and a
non-integer average number of flux quanta penetrating the superconductor. The
magnetic field dependence of the probability for the occurrence of the
different vortex states and the fluctuations in the number of vortices are
studied.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Superconducting properties of mesoscopic cylinders with enhanced surface superconductivity
The superconducting state of an infinitely long superconducting cylinder
surrounded by a medium which enhances its superconductivity near the boundary
is studied within the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau theory. This enhancement can be
due to the proximity of another superconductor or due to surface treatment.
Quantities like the free energy, the magnetization and the Cooper-pair density
are calculated. Phase diagrams are obtained to investigate how the critical
field and the critical temperature depend on this surface enhancement for
different values of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter \kappa. Increasing the
superconductivity near the surface leads to higher critical fields and critical
temperatures. For small cylinder diameters only giant vortex states nucleate,
while for larger cylinders multivortices can nucleate. The stability of these
multivortex states also depends on the surface enhancement. For type-I
superconductors we found the remarkable result that for a range of values of
the surface extrapolation length the superconductor can transit from the
Meissner state into superconducting states with vorticity L > 1. Such a
behaviour is not found for the case of large \kappa, i.e. type-II
superconductivity.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.
Dependence of the vortex configuration on the geometry of mesoscopic flat samples
The influence of the geometry of a thin superconducting sample on the
penetration of the magnetic field lines and the arrangement of vortices are
investigated theoretically. We compare superconducting disks, squares and
triangles with the same surface area having nonzero thickness. The coupled
nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equations are solved self-consistently and the
important demagnetization effects are taken into account. We calculate and
compare quantities like the free energy, the magnetization, the Cooper-pair
density, the magnetic field distribution and the superconducting current
density for the three geometries. For given vorticity the vortex lattice is
different for the three geometries, i.e. it tries to adapt to the geometry of
the sample. This also influences the stability range of the different vortex
states. For certain magnetic field ranges we found a coexistence of a giant
vortex placed in the center and single vortices toward the corners of the
sample. Also the H-T phase diagram is obtained.Comment: 9 pages, 17 figures (submitted to Phys. Rev. B
Vortex structure of thin mesoscopic disks in the presence of an inhomogeneous magnetic field
The vortex states in a thin mesoscopic disk are investigated within the
phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory in the presence of different ''model''
magnetic field profiles with zero average field which may result from a
ferromagnetic disk or circulating currents in a loop near the superconductor.
We calculated the dependences of both the ground and metastable states on the
magnitude and shape of the magnetic field profile for different values of the
order parameter angular moment, i.e. the vorticity. The regions of existence of
the multi-vortex state and the giant vortex state are found. We analysed the
phase transitions between these states and studied the contribution from
ring-shaped vortices. A new transition between different multi-vortex
configurations as the ground state is found. Furthermore, we found a vortex
state consisting of a central giant vortex surrounded by a collection of
anti-vortices which are located in a ring around this giant vortex. The limit
to a disk with an infinite radius, i.e. a film, will also be discussed. We also
extended our results to ''real'' magnetic field profiles and to the case in
which an external homogeneous magnetic field is present.Comment: 17 pages, 23 figures. Submitted to PR