Abstract
At sufficiently large transport currents , a defect at the edge of a superconducting strip acts as a gate for the vortices entering into it. These vortices form a jet, which is narrow near the defect and expands due to the repulsion of vortices as they move to the opposite edge of the strip, giving rise to a transverse voltage . Here, relying upon the equation of vortex motion under competing vortex-vortex and -vortex interactions, we derive the vortex jet shapes in narrow () and wide () strips [: coherence length, : strip width, : effective penetration depth]. We predict a nonmonotonic dependence which can be measured with Hall voltage leads placed on the line at a small distance apart from the edge defect and which changes its sign upon reversal. For narrow strips, we compare the theoretical predictions with experiment, by fitting the data for -wide MoSi strips with single edge defects milled by a focused ion beam at distances nm from the line . For wide strips, the derived magnetic field dependence of the vortex jet shape is in line with the recent experimental observations for vortices moving in Pb bridges with a narrowing. Our findings are augmented with the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau simulations which reproduce the calculated vortex jet shapes and the maxima. Furthermore, with increase of , the numerical modeling unveils the evolution of vortex jets to vortex rivers, complementing the analytical theory in the entire range of .
- Received 14 February 2022
- Revised 13 April 2022
- Accepted 14 April 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.214507
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
synopsis
Vortex Jets Spotted in Superconductors
Published 8 June 2022
Researchers have identified and studied vortex jets—streams of swirling electrons—that can form at edge defects in current-carrying superconductors.
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