Giant vortex state in perforated aluminum microsquares

Abstract

We investigate the nucleation of superconductivity in a uniform perpendicular magnetic field H in aluminum microsquares containing a few (2 and 4) submicron holes (antidots). The normal/superconducting phase boundary T_c(H) of these structures shows a quite different behavior in low and high fields. In the low magnetic field regime fluxoid quantization around each antidot leads to oscillations in T_c(H), expected from the specific sample geometry, and reminiscent of the network behavior. In high magnetic fields, the T_c(H) boundaries of the perforated and a reference non-perforated microsquare reveal cusps at the same values of Phi/Phi_0 (where Phi is the applied flux threading the total square area and Phi_0 is the superconducting flux quantum), while the background on T_c(H) becomes quasi-linear, indicating that a giant vortex state is established. The influence of the actual geometries on T_c(H) is analyzed in the framework of the linearized Ginzburg-Landau theory.

14 pages, 6 PS figures, RevTex, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B

References in corpus (5)

• Vortex phase diagram for mesoscopic superconducting disks
• Critical Fields of mesoscopic superconductors
• Phase transition curves for mesoscopic superconducting samples
• Vortex configurations in a Pb/Cu microdot with a 2x2 antidot cluster
• Flux-Induced Vortex in Mesoscopic Superconducting Loops

Cited by in corpus (23)

• Experimental Evidence for Giant Vortex States in a Mesoscopic Superconducting Disk
• Dependence of the vortex configuration on the geometry of mesoscopic flat samples
• Saddle point states and energy barriers for vortex entrance and exit in superconducting disks and rings
• Symmetry-induced giant vortex state in a superconducting film with a Penrose array of magnetic pinning centers
• Dimensional crossover in a mesoscopic superconducting loop of finite width
• Quantum Interference in Superconducting Wire Networks and Josephson Junction Arrays: Analytical Approach based on Multiple-Loop Aharonov-Bohm Feynman Path-Integrals
• Vortices in a mesoscopic superconducting circular sector
• Geometric frustration in polygons of polariton condensates creating vortices of varying topological charge
• Annular Vortex Solutions to the Landau-Ginzburg Equations in Mesoscopic Superconductors
• Little-Parks Oscillations in Hybrid Ferromagnet-Superconductor Systems
• Vortices on a superconducting nanoshell: phase diagram and dynamics
• Onset of surface superconductivity beyond the Saint-James-de Gennes limit
• Creation of superconducting vortices by angular momentum of light
• Decoupling transition of two coherent vortex arrays within the surface superconductivity state
• Vortex crossing and trapping in doubly connected mesoscopic loops of a single-crystal type II superconductor
• Heat Capacity of Mesoscopic Superconducting Disks
• Probing confined vortices with a superconducting nanobridge
• The ac magnetic response of mesoscopic type II superconductors
• The importance of thermal gradients on the vortex dynamics and magnetic behavior of mesoscopic superconducting samples
• Guiding structures with multiply connected cross-sections: evolution of propagation in external fields at complex Robin parameters
• Supercurrent diode with high winding vortex
• Electronic structure of mesoscopic superconducting disk: Quasiparticle tunneling between the giant vortex core and disk edge
• Superconducting networks with the proximity effect