Ultradense Tailored Vortex Pinning Arrays in Superconducting YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ Thin Films Created by Focused He Ion Beam Irradiation for Fluxonics Applications

Author(s)

Bernd Aichner, Benedikt Müller, Max Karrer, Vyacheslav R. Misko, Fabienne Limberger, Kristijan Luka Mletschnig, Meirzhan Dosmailov, Johannes D. Pedarnig, Franco Nori, Reinhold Kleiner, Dieter Koelle, Wolfgang Lang

Abstract

Magnetic fields penetrate a type II superconductor as magnetic flux quanta, called vortices. In a clean superconductor they arrange in a hexagonal lattice, while by addition of periodic artificial pinning centers many other arrangements can be realized. Using the focused beam of a helium ion microscope, we have fabricated periodic patterns of dense pinning centers with spacings as small as 70 nm in thin films of the cuprate superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ. In these ultradense kagomé-like patterns, the voids lead to magnetic caging of vortices, resulting in unconventional commensurability effects that manifest themselves as peaks in the critical current and minima in the resistance versus applied magnetic field up to ∼0.4 T. The various vortex patterns at different magnetic fields are analyzed by molecular dynamics simulations of vortex motion, and the magnetic field dependence of the critical current is confirmed. These findings open the way for a controlled manipulation of vortices in cuprate superconductors by artificial sub-100 nm pinning landscapes.

Organisation(s)

Electronic Properties of Materials

External organisation(s)

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, University of Antwerp, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, University of Michigan, Ulmer Fundamental Symmetries Laboratory, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Journal

ACS Applied Nano Materials

Volume

2

Pages

5108-5115

No. of pages

8

ISSN

2574-0970

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.9b01006

Publication date

08-2019

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

103013 Ion physics, 103033 Superconductivity, 210006 Nanotechnology

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Condensed Matter Physics, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/ultradense-tailored-vortex-pinning-arrays-in-superconducting-yba2cu3o7-thin-films-created-by-focused-he-ion-beam-irradiation-for-fluxonics-applications(4b1d8c5b-043b-4cc4-bd86-7abed58a6392).html