We have investigated the intermediate mixed state of a superconducting niobium sample by Very Small Angle Neutron Scattering.We show that this state is stabilized through a sequence where a regular vortex lattice appears, which then coexists with vortex clusters before vanishing at low temperature. Vortices in clusters have a constant periodicity regardless of the applied field, exhibit a temperature dependence close to the one of the penetration depth. The clusters disappear in the high temperature limit. All the results agree with an explanation in terms of vortex attraction due non local effects, and indicate a negligible role of pinning. Phase coexistence between Abrikosov vortex lattice and vortex clusters is reported showing the first order nature of the boundary line.
Equilibrium magnetic properties of the mixed state in type-II superconductors were measured with high purity bulk and film niobium samples in parallel and perpendicular magnetic fields using dc magnetometry and scanning Hall-probe microscopy. Equilibrium magnetization data for the perpendicular geometry were obtained for the first time. It was found that none of the existing theories is consistent with these new data. To address this problem, a theoretical model is developed and experimentally validated. The new model describes the mixed state in an averaged limit, i.e. %without detailing the …
In the intermediate mixed state (IMS) of type-II/1 superconductors, vortex lattice (VL) and Meissner state domains coexist due to a partially attractive vortex interaction. Using a neutron-based multiscale approach combined with magnetization measurements, we study the continuous decomposition of a homogeneous VL into increasingly dense domains in the IMS in bulk niobium samples of varying purity. We find a universal temperature dependence of the vortex spacing, closely related to the London penetration depth and independent of the external magnetic field. The rearrangement of vortices occurs …
Recent experiments [I.V. Grigorieva et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 077005 (2006)] on visualization of vortices using the Bitter decoration technique revealed vortex shells in mesoscopic superconducting Nb disks containing up to L=40 vortices. Some of the found configurations did not agree with those predicted theoretically. We show here that this discrepancy can be traced back to the larger disks with radii R ~ 1 to 2.5μm, i.e., R ~ 50-100ξ(0) used in the experiment, while in previous theoretical studies vortex states with vorticity L < 40 were analyzed for smaller disks with R ~ 5-20ξ(0). The p…
In 1993 Tang proposed [1] that vortex avalanches should produce a self organized critical state in superconductors, but conclusive evidence for this has heretofore been lacking. In the present paper, we report extensive micro-Hall probe data from the vortex dynamics in superconducting niobium, where a broad distribution of avalanche sizes scaling as a power-law for more than two decades is found. The measurements are combined with magneto-optical imaging, and show that over a widely varying magnetic landscape the scaling behaviour does not change, hence establishing that the dynamics of superc…
Using an array of miniature Hall probes, we monitored the spatiotemporal variation of the internal magnetic induction in a superconducting niobium sample during a slow sweep of external magnetic field. We found that a sizable fraction of the increase in the local vortex population occurs in abrupt jumps. The size distribution of these avalanches presents a power-law collapse on a limited range. In contrast, at low temperatures and low fields, huge avalanches with a typical size occur and the system does not display a well-defined macroscopic critical current.
Magnetic flux trapped during the cooldown of superconducting radio-frequency cavities through the transition temperature due to incomplete Meissner state is known to be a significant source of radio-frequency losses. The sensitivity of flux trapping depends on the distribution and the type of defects and impurities which pin vortices, as well as the cooldown dynamics when the cavity transitions from a normal to superconducting state. Here we present the results of measurements of the flux trapping sensitivity on 1.3 GHz elliptical cavities made from large-grain niobium with different purity fo…
In magnetic fields applied within the angular range of the surface superconductivity state a magnetically anisotropic layered medium is created in structurally isotropic, sufficiently thick niobium films. Surface (Kulik) vortices residing in the superconducting sheaths on both main film surfaces in tilted fields are shown to undergo a decoupling transition from a coherent to an independent behavior, similar to the behavior observed for Giaever transformer. At the transition a feature in pinning properties is measured, which implies different pinning for the lattice of surface vortices coherent…
We describe an experimental protocol to characterize magnetic field dependent microwave losses in superconducting niobium microstrip resonators. Our approach provides a unified view that covers two well-known magnetic field dependent loss mechanisms: quasiparticle generation and vortex motion. We find that quasiparticle generation is the dominant loss mechanism for parallel magnetic fields. For perpendicular fields, the dominant loss mechanism is vortex motion or switches from quasiparticle generation to vortex motion, depending on cooling procedures. In particular, we introduce a plot of the …
Equidistant resonance jumps in superconducting coplanar resonators driven by Abrikosov vortices
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology（莫斯科物理技术学院）；Institute for Physics of Microstructures, Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院微结构物理研究所）；Dukhov Research Institute of Automatics (VNIIA)（杜霍夫自动仪器科学研究院）
A method for determining the internal DC magnetic field inside a superconducting cavity is presented. The method relies on the relationship between magnetic field and frequency of the Kittel mode of a ferrimagnetic sphere, hybridised in the dispersive regime of the superconducting cavity. Results were used to experimentally determine the level of screening a superconducting Nb cavity provides as it changes from perfect diamagnetism to no screening. Two cavity geometries were tested, a cylinder and single post re-entrant cavity. Both demonstrated a consistent value of field that enters the cavi…
The transport critical current of a Niobium (Nb) thick film has been measured for a large range of magnetic field. Its value and variation are quantitatively described in the framework of the pinning of vortices due to boundary conditions at the rough surface, with a contact angle well explained by the spectral analysis of the surface roughness. Increasing the surface roughness using a Focused Ion Beam results also in an increase of the superficial critical current.
A scanning SQUID microscope was used to image vortex trapping as a function of the magnetic induction during cooling in thin-film YBCO strips for strip widths W from 2 to 50 um. We found that vortices were excluded from the strips when the induction Ba was below a critical induction Bc. We present a simple model for the vortex exclusion process which takes into account the vortex - antivortex pair production energy as well as the vortex Meissner and self-energies. This model predicts that the real density n of trapped vortices is given by n=(Ba-BK)/Phi0 with BK = 1.65Phi0/W^2 and Phi0 = h/2e t…
Superconducting films in perpendicular magnetic field are found to rectify alternating currents. The effect has been observed both in plain and nanostructured superconducting films (niobium and lead). The rectified voltage appears both along and transverse to alternating current and strongly depends on the magnetic field. Rectification phenomena is based on the property of superconductors to have permanent circulating currents in magnetic field (vortices) and to develop electric fields at high enough currents. In contrast to previous findings, at higher current frequencies no asymmetric pinnin…
The state of the vortex lattice extremely close to the superconducting to normal transition in an applied magnetic field is investigated in high purity niobium. We observe that thermal fluctuations of the order parameter broaden the superconducting to normal transition into a crossover but no sign of a first order vortex lattice melting transition is detected in measurements of the heat capacity or the small angle neutron scattering (SANS) intensity. Direct observation of the vortices via SANS always finds a well ordered vortex lattice. The fluctuation broadening is considered in terms of the …
Epitaxial niobium-nitride thin films with a critical temperature of Tc=16K and a thickness of 100nm were fabricated on MgO(100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Low-temperature magnetic force microscopy (MFM) images of the supercurrent vortices were measured after field cooling in a magnetic field of 3mT at various temperatures. Temperature dependence of the penetration depth has been evaluated by a two-dimensional fitting of the vortex profiles in the monopole-monopole model. Its subsequent fit to a single s-wave gap function results in the superconducting gap amplitude Delta(0) = 2.9 m…
Microwave Signature of the Emerging Abrikosov Lattice Above $H_{c2}$
Xiamen University（厦门大学）；CNR-SPIN（意大利国家研究委员会自旋物理研究所）；Argonne National Laboratory（阿贡国家实验室）；Northern Illinois University（北伊利诺伊大学）；Istituto di Struttura della Materia of the National Research Council（意大利国家研究委员会物质结构研究所）
