Microwave emission from superconducting vortices in Mo/Si superlattices

Abstract

Most of superconductors in a magnetic field are penetrated by a lattice of quantized flux vortices. In the presence of a transport current causing the vortices to cross sample edges, emission of electromagnetic waves is expected due to the continuity of tangential components of the fields at the surface. Yet, such a radiation has not been observed so far due to low radiated power levels and lacking coherence in the vortex motion. Here, we report emission of electromagnetic waves from vortices crossing the layers of a superconductor/insulator Mo/Si superlattice. The emission spectra consist of narrow harmonically related peaks which can be finely tuned in the GHz range by the dc bias current and, coarsely, by the in-plane magnetic field value. Our findings show that superconductor/insulator superlattices can act as dc-tunable microwave generators bridging the frequency gap between conventional radiofrequency oscillators and (sub-)terahertz generators relying upon the Josephson effect.

9 pages, 5 figures

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• Engineered magnetization and exchange stiffness in direct-write Co-Fe nanoelements
• Vortex matching at 6 T in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ thin films by imprinting a 20 nm-periodic pinning array with a focused helium ion beam
• Angular magnetic-field dependence of vortex matching in pinning lattices fabricated by focused or masked helium ion beam irradiation of superconducting YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ thin films
• Phase diagram of superconducting vortex ratchet motion in a superlattice with noncentrosymmetry
• Fast Dynamics of Vortices in Superconductors
• DC-operated Josephson junction arrays as a cryogenic on-chip microwave measurement platform
• Vortex Refraction at Tilted Superconductor-Normal Metal Interfaces