Theory of the lower critical magnetic field for a two-dimensional superconducting film in a non-uniform field

Abstract

We consider the first appearance of vortices in a two-dimensional (2-D) superconducting film exposed to a non-uniform magnetic field, ${\mathbf{B}}_{\mathbf{a}}$, produced by a nearby coil. The film has "infinite" radius, $R_f$, and thickness $t$ about equal to the coherence length, $\xi$. The coil is approximated as a point dipole. We find that the first vortex-bearing state to appear has both a vortex and an antivortex. The Gibbs free energy of this state is lower than the vortex-free state when the applied perpendicular field, $B_0$, at the origin exceeds the external critical field: $B_{c1}^0=\frac{4\sqrt{2}\Lambda }{R}\frac{{\Phi }_0}{4\pi {\Lambda }^2}ln\left(\frac{\Lambda }{\xi }\right)$, where $\frac{{\Phi }_0}{4\pi {\Lambda }^2}ln\left(\frac{\Lambda }{\xi }\right)\equiv B_{c1}^{2D}$ is the intrinsic critical field in 2-D, $\Lambda \equiv 2{\lambda }^2/t$ the 2-D penetration depth introduced by Pearl, and $\lambda$ is the bulk penetration depth. The prefactor, $4\sqrt{2}\Lambda /R$, is calculated in the strong-screening regime, $\Lambda /R\ll 1$. $R$ is the radial distance at which the applied perpendicular field, $B_{a,z}(\rho )$, changes sign. In the lab, the onset of vortex effects generally occurs at a field much higher than $B_{c1}^0$, indicating that vortices are inhibited by the vortex-antivortex unbinding barrier, or by pinning.

References in corpus (1)

• Analytical model of the response of a superconducting film to line currents

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Vortex dynamics induced by scanning SQUID susceptometry
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• Doping-dependent critical Cooper-pair momentum in thin, underdoped cuprate films