Phase transitions executed in a finite time show a domain structure with defects, that has been argued by Zurek and Kibble to depend in a characteristic way on the quench rate. In this letter we present an experiment to measure the Zurek-Kibble scaling exponent sigma. Using symmetric and long Josephson Tunnel Junctions, for which the predicted index is sigma = 0.25, we find sigma = 0.27 +/- 0.05. Further, there is agreement with the ZK prediction for the overall normalisation.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0112321,
title = {Zurek-Kibble domain structures: The Dynamics of Spontaneous Vortex formation in Annular Josephson Tunnel Junctions},
author = {R. Monaco and J. Mygind and R. Rivers},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0112321},
year = {2012}
}