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Register a new userMoving flux quanta cool superconductors by a microwave breath
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Added by
Oleksandr Dobrovolskiy V.
Publication date
2020
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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Almost any use of a superconductor implies a nonequilibrium state. Remarkably, the non-equilibrium states induced by a microwave stimulus and the dynamics of magnetic flux quanta (Abrikosov vortices) can give rise to strikingly contrary effects: A sufficiently high-power electromagnetic field of GHz frequency can stimulate superconductivity, whereas fast vortex motion can trigger an instability abruptly quenching the superconducting state. Here, we advance or delay such dynamical quenching of the vortex state in Nb thin films by tuning the power and frequency of the microwave ac stimulus added to a dc bias current. The experimental findings are supported by time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau simulations and they can be explained qualitatively based on a model of breathing mobile hot spots, implying a competition of heating and cooling of quasiparticles along the trajectories of moving fluxons whose core sizes vary in time. In addition, we demonstrate universality of the stimulation effect on the thermodynamic and transport properties of type II superconductors.
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We examine intrinsic interfaces separating crystalline twin domains of opposite spin-orbit coupling in a noncentrosymmetric superconductor such as CePt3Si. At these interfaces, low-energy Andreev bound states occur as a consequence of parity-mixed Cooper pairing, and a superconducting phase which violates time reversal symmetry can be realized. This provides an environment allowing flux lines with fractional flux quanta to be formed at the interface. Their presence could have strong implications on the flux creep behavior in such superconductors.
Despite theoretical predictions for a Cherenkov-type radiation of spin waves (magnons) by various propagating magnetic perturbations, fast-enough moving magnetic field stimuli have not been available so far. Here, we experimentally realize the Cherenkov radiation of spin waves in a Co-Fe magnonic conduit by fast-moving (>1 km/s) magnetic flux quanta (Abrikosov vortices) in an adjacent Nb-C superconducting strip. The radiation is evidenced by the microwave detection of spin waves propagating a distance of 2 micrometers from the superconductor and it is accompanied by a magnon Shapiro step in its current-voltage curve. The spin-wave excitation is unidirectional and monochromatic, with sub-40 nm wavelengths determined by the period of the vortex lattice. The phase-locking of the vortex lattice with the excited spin wave limits the vortex velocity and reduces the dissipation in the superconductor.
Magnetic field can penetrate into type-II superconductors in the form of Abrikosov vortices, which are magnetic flux tubes surrounded by circulating supercurrents often trapped at defects referred to as pinning sites. Although the average properties of the vortex matter can be tuned with magnetic fields, temperature or electric currents, handling of individual vortices remains challenging and has been demonstrated only with sophisticated magnetic force, superconducting quantum interference device or strain-induced scanning local probe microscopies. Here, we introduce a far-field optical method based on local heating of the superconductor with a focused laser beam to realize a fast, precise and non-invasive manipulation of individual Abrikosov vortices, in the same way as with optical tweezers. This simple approach provides the perfect basis for sculpting the magnetic flux profile in superconducting devices like a vortex lens or a vortex cleaner, without resorting to static pinning or ratchet effects. Since a single vortex can induce a Josephson phase shift, our method also paves the way to fast optical drive of Josephson junctions, with potential massive parallelization of operations.
The dynamics of Abrikosov vortices in superconductors is usually limited to vortex velocities $vsimeq1$ km/s above which samples abruptly transit into the normal state. In the Larkin-Ovchinnikov framework, near the critical temperature this is because of a flux-flow instability triggered by the reduction of the viscous drag coefficient due to the quasiparticles leaving the vortex cores. While the existing instability theories rely upon a uniform spatial distribution of vortex velocities, the measured (mean) value of $v$ is always smaller than the maximal possible one, since the distribution of $v$ never reaches the $delta$-functional shape. Here, by guiding magnetic flux quanta at a tilt angle of $15^circ$ with respect to a Co nanostripe array, we speed up vortices to supersonic velocities. These exceed $v$ in the reference as-grown Nb films by almost an order of magnitude and are only a factor of two smaller than the maximal vortex velocities observed in superconductors so far. We argue that such high $v$ values appear in consequence of a collective dynamic ordering when all vortices move in the channels with the same pinning strength and exhibit a very narrow distribution of $v$. Our findings render the well-known vortex guiding effect to open prospects for investigations of ultrafast vortex dynamics.
Using heterostructures that combine a large-polarization ferroelectric (BiFeO3) and a high-temperature superconductor (YBa2Cu3O7-{delta}), we demonstrate the modulation of the superconducting condensate at the nanoscale via ferroelectric field effects. Through this mechanism, a nanoscale pattern of normal regions that mimics the ferroelectric domain structure can be created in the superconductor. This yields an energy landscape for magnetic flux quanta and, in turn, couples the local ferroelectric polarization to the local magnetic induction. We show that this form of magnetoelectric coupling, together with the possibility to reversibly design the ferroelectric domain structure, allows the electrostatic manipulation of magnetic flux quanta.
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