Rearrangement of the vortex lattice due to instabilities of vortex flow

With increasing applied current we show that the moving vortex lattice changes its structure from a triangular one to a set of parallel vortex rows in a pinning free superconductor. This effect originates from the change of the shape of the vortex core due to non-equilibrium effects (similar to the mechanism of vortex motion instability in the Larkin-Ovchinnikov theory). The moving vortex creates a deficit of quasiparticles in front of its motion and an excess of quasiparticles behind the core of the moving vortex. This results in the appearance of a wake (region with suppressed order parameter) behind the vortex which attracts other vortices resulting in an effective direction-dependent interaction between vortices. When the vortex velocity $v$ reaches the critical value $v_c$ quasi-phase slip lines (lines with fast vortex motion) appear which may coexist with slowly moving vortices between such lines. Our results are found within the framework of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations and are strictly valid when the coherence length $\xi(T)$ is larger or comparable with the decay length $L_{in}$ of the non-equilibrium quasiparticle distribution function. We qualitatively explain experiments on the instability of vortex flow at low magnetic fields when the distance between vortices $a \gg L_{in} \gg \xi (T)$. We speculate that a similar instability of the vortex lattice should exist for $v>v_c$ even when $a<L_{in}$.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

AC Josephson properties of phase slip lines in wide tin films

Current steps in the current-voltage characteristics of wide superconducting Sn films exposed to a microwave irradiation were observed in the resistive state with phase slip lines. The behaviour of the magnitude of the steps on the applied irradiation power was found to be similar to that for the current steps in narrow superconducting channels with phase slip centers and, to some extent, for the Shapiro steps in Josephson junctions. This provides evidence for the Josephson properties of the phase slip lines in wide superconducting films and supports the assumption about similarity between the processes of phase slip in wide and narrow films.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Supercond. Sci. Techno

Phase diagram of a current-carrying superconducting film in the absence of a magnetic field

We present the phase diagram for the current states of superconducting films, based on the experimental investigation of the resistive transition induced by transport current. We found that a rather narrow film never enters the vortex state, but experiences direct transition from the purely superconducting state to the resistive state with phase-slip centers as soon as the current exceeds the Ginzburg-Landau critical current Ic. The Meissner current state of the films of intermediate width transforms at I > 0.8Ic to the vortex resistive state which exists within the current interval 0.8Ic < I < Im, where the value Im of the upper critical current is in a good agreement with the theory. The vortex state of wide films is realized within the current region I^{AL} < I < Im, where I^{AL} is the transition point to the vortex state by Aslamazov and Lempitskiy. At I>Im, the wide films enter a vortex-free resistive state with phase-slip lines.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Current states in superconducting films: Numerical results

We present numerical solutions of Aslamazov–Lempitskiy (AL) equations for distributions of the transport current density in thin superconducting films in the absence of external magnetic field, in both the Meissner and the vortex states. These solutions describe smooth transition between the regimes of a wide film and a narrow channel and enable us to find critical currents and current-voltage characteristics within a wide range of the film width and temperature. The normalized critical currents and the electric field were found to be universal functions of the relation between the film width and the magnetic field penetration depth. We calculate the fitting constants of the AL theory and propose approximating formulas for the current density distributions and critical currents