Smectic order has been generated in superconducting Nb films with two-fold symmetry arrays of symmetric pinning centers. Magnetic fields applied perpendicularly to the films develop a vortex matter smectic phase that is easily detected when the vorti
ces commensurate with the pinning center array. The smectic phase can be turned on and off with external parameters.
We present a simple nanodevice that can operate in two modes: i) three-state memory and ii) reading device. The nanodevice is fabricated with an array of ordered triangular-shaped nanomagnets embedded in a superconducting thin film. The input signal
is ac current and the output signal is dc voltage. Vortex ratchet effect in combination with out of plane magnetic anisotropy of the nanomagnets is the background physics which governs the nanodevice performance.
