Field-free nucleation of antivortices and giant vortices in non-superconducting materials

Abstract

Giant vortices with higher phase-winding than $2\pi$ are usually energetically unfavorable, but geometric symmetry constraints on a superconductor in a magnetic field are known to stabilize such objects. Here, we show via microscopic calculations that giant vortices can appear in intrinsically non-superconducting materials, even without any applied magnetic field. The enabling mechanism is the proximity effect to a host superconductor where a current flows, and we also demonstrate that antivortices can appear in this setup. Our results open the possibility to study electrically controllable topological defects in unusual environments, which do not have to be exposed to magnetic fields or intrinsically superconducting, but instead display other types of order.

Revised version; 4 pages manuscript, 4 pages supplemental, 6 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Intrinsic Paramagnetic Meissner Effect due to s-wave Odd-Frequency Superconductivity
• Magnetic Interference Patterns and Vortices in Diffusive SNS junctions

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Quasiclassical theory for antiferromagnetic metals
• Superconducting Vortices in Half-Metals
• Vortex spin-valve on a topological insulator
• Supercurrent diode with high winding vortex
• Electronic structure of mesoscopic superconducting disk: Quasiparticle tunneling between the giant vortex core and disk edge
• Vortex Refraction at Tilted Superconductor-Normal Metal Interfaces