45 research outputs found
Magnetic confinement of the superconducting condensate in superconductor/ferromagnet hybrid composites
The influence of an inhomogeneous magnetic field on the magnetoresistance of
thin Al films, used in different superconductor/ferromagnet hybrids, has been
investigated. Two contrasting magnetic textures with out-of-plane magnetization
are explored, namely (i) a plain film in a multidomain state and (ii) an array
of micro-sized dots. The stray fields of the ferromagnetic structures confine
the superconducting condensate and, accordingly, modify the condition for the
nucleation of superconductivity. By switching between different magnetic states
of the ferromagnet, this confinement can be tuned at will, hereby reversibly
changing the dependence of the critical temperature Tc on an external magnetic
field H. In particular, the continuous evolution from a conventional linear
Tc(H) dependence with a single maximum to a reentrant superconducting phase
boundary with multiple Tc peaks has been demonstrated
Vorticity and magnetic shielding in a type-II superconductor
We study in detail, solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, the magnetic
field, supercurrent and order parameter profiles originated by a solenoid or
magnetic whisker inserted in a type-II superconductor. We consider solutions of
different vorticities, n, in the various cases. The results confirm the
connection between the vorticity, the internal currents and the boundstates in
a self-consistent way. The number of boundstates is given by the vorticity of
the phase of the gap function as in the case with no external solenoid. In the
limiting case of an infinitely thin solenoid, like a Dirac string, the solution
is qualitatively different. The quasiparticle spectrum and wave functions are a
function of n-n_ext, where n_ext is the vorticity of the solenoid. The flux is
in all cases determined by the vorticity of the gap function.Comment: revised version, 25 pages, LaTex, 10 figure
Mesoscopic cross-film cryotrons: Vortex trapping and dc-Josephson-like oscillations of the critical current
We investigate theoretically and experimentally the transport properties of a
plain Al superconducting strip in the presence of a single straight
current-carrying wire, oriented perpendicular to the superconducting strip. It
is well known that the critical current of the superconducting strip, Ic, in
such cryotron--like system can be tuned by changing the current in the control
wire, Iw. We demonstrated that the discrete change in the number of the pinned
vortices/antivortices inside the narrow and long strip nearby the
current-carrying wire results in a peculiar oscillatory dependence of Ic on Iw.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Localization of superconductivity in superconductor-electromagnet hybrids
We investigate the nucleation of superconductivity in a superconducting Al
strip under the influence of the magnetic field generated by a current-carrying
Nb wire, perpendicularly oriented and located underneath the strip. The
inhomogeneous magnetic field, induced by the Nb wire, produces a spatial
modulation of the critical temperature T_c, leading to a controllable
localization of the superconducting order parameter (OP) wave function. We
demonstrate that close to the phase boundary T_c(B_ext) the localized OP
solution can be displaced reversibly by either applying an external
perpendicular magnetic field B_ext or by changing the amplitude of the
inhomogeneous field.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Hybridization and interference effects for localized superconducting states in strong magnetic field
Within the Ginzburg-Landau model we study the critical field and temperature
enhancement for crossing superconducting channels formed either along the
sample edges or domain walls in thin-film magnetically coupled superconducting
- ferromagnetic bilayers. The corresponding Cooper pair wave function can be
viewed as a hybridization of two order parameter (OP) modes propagating along
the boundaries and/or domain walls. Different momenta of hybridized OP modes
result in the formation of vortex chains outgoing from the crossing point of
these channels. Near this crossing point the wave functions of the modes merge
giving rise to the increase in the critical temperature for a localized
superconducting state. The origin of this critical temperature enhancement
caused by the wave function squeezing is illustrated for a limiting case of
approaching parallel boundaries and/or domain walls. Using both the variational
method and numerical simulations we have studied the critical temperature
dependence and OP structure vs the applied magnetic field and the angle between
the crossing channels.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure
Little-Parks effect and multiquanta vortices in a hybrid superconductor--ferromagnet system
Within the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory we investigate the phase
diagram of a thin superconducting film with ferromagnetic nanoparticles. We
study the oscillatory dependence of the critical temperature on an external
magnetic field similar to the Little-Parks effect and formation of multiquantum
vortex structures. The structure of a superconducting state is studied both
analytically and numerically.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure. Submitted to J. Phys.: Condens. Mat
Domain-wall and reverse-domain superconducting states of a Pb thin-film bridge on a ferromagnetic BaFe_{12}O_{19} single crystal
We report on imaging of the nonuniform superconducting states in a Pb thin
film bridge on top of a ferromagnetic BaFe_{12}O_{19} single crystal with a
single straight domain wall along the center of the bridge by low-temperature
scanning laser microscopy. We have visualized domain wall superconductivity
(DWS) close to the critical temperature of Pb, when the Pb film above the
domain wall acts as a superconducting path for the current. The evolution of
the DWS signal with temperature and the external-field-driven transition from
DWS to reverse domain superconductivity was visualized.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure