Abstract
We report on the experimental verification of the Zurek-Kibble scenario in an isolated superconducting ring over a wide parameter range. The probability of creating a single flux quantum spontaneously during the fast normal-superconducting phase transition of a wide Nb loop clearly follows a scaling relation on the quenching time , as one would expect if the transition took place as fast as causality permits. However, the observed Zurek-Kibble scaling exponent is two times larger than anticipated for large loops. Assuming Gaussian winding number densities we show that this doubling is well founded for small annuli.
- Received 24 July 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.80.180501
©2009 American Physical Society
Viewpoint
Can superconducting rings provide clues to the early development of the universe?
Published 2 November 2009
Defects—in the form of vortices in superconductors or “strings” in the fabric of the universe—can reveal the state of a system at the time it was cooled.
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