Experimental determination of correlations between spontaneously formed vortices in a superconductor

Abstract

We have imaged spontaneously created arrays of vortices (magnetic flux quanta), generated in a superconducting film quenched through its transition temperature at rates around $10^{9}K/s$. From these images, we calculated the positional correlation functions for two vortices and for 3 vortices. We compared our results with simulations of the time dependent Ginzburg Landau equation in 2D. The results are in agreement with the Kibble-Zurek scenario of spontaneous vortex creation. In addition, the correlation functions are insensitive to the presence of a gauge field.

4 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Kibble-Zurek mechanism and infinitely slow annealing through critical points
• Topological Defects from First Order Gauge Theory Phase Transitions
• Super-horizon cosmic string correlations

Cited by in corpus (7)

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• Tuning microwave losses in superconducting resonators
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• All-optical generation of Abrikosov vortices by the Inverse Faraday Effect
• Role of boundary conditions in the full counting statistics of topological defects after crossing a continuous phase transition
• Holographic topological defects and local gauge symmetry: clusters of strongly coupled equal-sign vortices
• Defect formation in superconducting rings: external fields and finite-size effects