The electron transport in current-biased superconducting nano-bridges is determined by the motion of the quantum vortex confined in the internal disorder landscape. Here we consider a simple case of a single or two neighbouring linear defects crossing a nano-bridge. The strong anharmonicity of the vortex motion along the defect leads, upon RF-excitation, to fractional Shapiro steps. In the case of two defects, the vortex motion becomes correlated, characterized by metastable states that can be locked to a resonant RF-drive. The lock-unlock process causes sudden voltage jumps and drops in the voltage-current characteristics observed in experiments. We analyze the parameters promoting these metastable dynamic states and discuss their potential applications in quantum devices.
@article{arxiv.2308.08894,
title = {Dynamic metastable vortex states in interacting vortex lines},
author = {Sergei Kozlov and Jérôme Lesueur and Dimitri Roditchev and Cheryl Feuillet-Palma},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.08894},
year = {2023}
}