A collective mechanism for current reversal in superconducting vortex ratchets is proposed. The mechanism is based on a two-dimensional instability of the ground state (T=0) of the system. We illustrate our results with numerical simulations and experiments in Nb superconducting films fabricated on top of Si substrates with artificially induced asymmetric pinning centers.
@article{arxiv.0712.0308,
title = {Current reversal in collective ratchets induced by lattice instability},
author = {L. Dinis and E. M. Gonzalez and J. V. Anguita and J. M. R. Parrondo and J. L. Vicent},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0712.0308},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B