115 research outputs found
Dendritic flux avalanches and nonlocal electrodynamics in thin superconducting films
We present numerical and analytical studies of coupled nonlinear Maxwell and
thermal diffusion equations which describe nonisothermal dendritic flux
penetration in superconducting films. We show that spontaneous branching of
propagating flux filaments occurs due to nonlocal magnetic flux diffusion and
positive feedback between flux motion and Joule heat generation. The branching
is triggered by a thermomagnetic edge instability which causes stratification
of the critical state. The resulting distribution of magnetic microavalanches
depends on a spatial distribution of defects. Our results are in good agreement
with experiments performed on Nb films.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, see http://mti.msd.anl.gov/aran_h1.htm for
extensive collection of movies of dendritic flux and temperature pattern
Interaction between superconducting vortices and Bloch wall in ferrite garnet film
Interaction between a Bloch wall in a ferrite-garnet film and a vortex in a
superconductor is analyzed in the London approximation. Equilibrium
distribution of vortices formed around the Bloch wall is calculated. The
results agree quantitatively with magneto-optical experiment where an in-plane
magnetized ferrite-garnet film placed on top of NbSe2 superconductor allows
observation of individual vortices. In particular, our model can reproduce a
counter-intuitive attraction observed between vortices and a Bloch wall having
the opposite polarity. It is explained by magnetic charges appearing due to
discontinuity of the in-plane magnetization across the wall.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Dendritic flux penetration in Pb films with a periodic array of antidots
We explore the flux-jump regime in type-II Pb thin films with a periodic
array of antidots by means of magneto-optical measurements. A direct
visualization of the magnetic flux distribution allows to identify a rich
morphology of flux penetration patterns. We determine the phase boundary
between dendritic penetration at low temperatures and a smooth flux
invasion at high temperatures and fields. For the whole range of fields and
temperatures studied, guided vortex motion along the principal axes of the
square pinning array is clearly observed. In particular, the branching process
of the dendrite expansion is fully governed by the underlying pinning topology.
A comparative study between macroscopic techniques and direct local
visualization shed light onto the puzzling and independent magnetic
response observed at low temperatures and fields. Finally, we find that the
distribution of avalanche sizes at low temperatures can be described by a power
law with exponent
Hydrodynamic Instability of the Flux-antiflux Interface in Type-II Superconductors
The macroturbulence instability observed in fluxline systems during
remagnetization of superconductors is explained. It is shown that when a region
with flux is invaded by antiflux the interface can become unstable if there is
a relative tangential flux motion. This condition occurs at the interface when
the viscosity is anisotropic, e.g., due to flux guiding by twin boundaries in
crystals. The phenomenon is similar to the instability of the tangential
discontinuity in classical hydrodynamics. The obtained results are supported by
magneto-optical observations of flux distribution on the surface of a YBCO
single crystal with twins.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Barkhausen noise from zigzag domain walls
We investigate the Barkhausen noise in ferromagnetic thin films with zigzag
domain walls. We use a cellular automaton model that describes the motion of a
zigzag domain wall in an impure ferromagnetic quasi-two dimensional sample with
in-plane uniaxial magnetization at zero temperature, driven by an external
magnetic field. The main ingredients of this model are the dipolar spin-spin
interactions and the anisotropy energy. A power law behavior with a cutoff is
found for the probability distributions of size, duration and correlation
length of the Barkhausen avalanches, and the critical exponents are in
agreement with the available experiments. The link between the size and the
duration of the avalanches is analyzed too, and a power law behavior is found
for the average size of an avalanche as a function of its duration.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure
Finger patterns produced by thermomagnetic instability in superconductors
A linear analysis of thermal diffusion and Maxwell equations is applied to
study the thermomagnetic instability in a type-II superconducting slab. It is
shown that the instability can lead to formation of spatially nonuniform
distributions of magnetic field and temperature. The distributions acquire a
finger structure with fingers perpendicular to the screening current direction.
We derive the criterion for the instability, and estimate its build-up time and
characteristic finger width. The fingering instability emerges when the
background electric field is larger than a threshold field, , and the
applied magnetic field exceeds a value . Numerical
simulations support the analytical results, and allow to follow the development
of the fingering instability beyond the linear regime. The fingering
instability may be responsible for the nucleation of dendritic flux patterns
observed in superconducting films using magneto-optical imaging.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev. B; (new version: minor
changes
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