Related papers: Do columnar defects produce bulk pinning?
We examine the stability of a pinned superfluid helium vortex line by measuring its persistence at elevated temperatures. Each vortex terminates at the surface of the container, at either a rounded bump or a conical indentation. We find…
We identify a phase transition in the vortex system of a high-temperature superconductor with nano-columnar stacks of precipitates as strong vortex pinning centers. Above a particular, temperature-dependent field $B_X(T)$ the vortex…
Vortex breaking has been traditionally studied for nonuniform critical current densities, although it may also appear due to nonuniform pinning force distributions. In this article we study the case of a…
As the size of an optical vortex knot, imprinted in a coherent light beam, is decreased, nonparaxial effects alter the structure of the knotted optical singularity. For knot structures approaching the scale of wavelength, longitudinal…
We use a sensitive magneto-optical microscopy technique to image the magnetization response of micron-scale ferromagnetic disks to changes in applied magnetic field. This differential technique relies on a modulated applied magnetic field…
Vortex pinning is a crucial factor that determines the critical current of practical superconductors and enables their diverse applications. However, the underlying mechanism of vortex pinning has long been elusive, lacking a clear…
The presence of quantum vortices determines the electromagnetic response of superconducting materials and devices. Controlling the vortex motion, their pinning on intrinsic and artificial defects is therefore essential for superconducting…
In order to characterize flux flow through disordered type-II superconductors, we investigate the effects of columnar and point defects on the vortex velocity / voltage power spectrum in the driven non-equilibrium steady state. We employ…
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…
We measure the interaction of a single superfluid vortex with surface irregularities. While vortex pinning in superconductors usually becomes weaker at higher temperatures, we find the opposite behavior. The pinning steadily increases…
We study microscopic scenario of vortex escape from a columnar defect under the influence of a transport current. For defect radii smaller than the superconducting coherence length the depinning process is shown to be a consequence of two…
Vortex motion in ferromagnetic-superconducting bilayers constituted by thin YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ film deposited on the top of thin manganite La$_{0.67}$Sr$_{0.33}$MnO$_3$ film has been investigated. Both films were deposited on…
Material defects in hard type II superconductors pin the flux lines and thus establish the dissipation-free current transport in the presence of a finite magnetic field. Depending on the density and pinning force of the defects and the…
We use magnetic force microscopy to both image and manipulate individual vortex lines threading single crystalline YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.4}$, a layered superconductor. We find that when we pull the top of a pinned vortex, it may not tilt…
The damping of the oscillations of a small permanent magnet (spherical shape, radius 0.1 mm) levitating between two parallel YBCO surfaces is measured as a function of oscillation amplitude and temperature. The losses in the samples…
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 adding periodic artificial pinning centers many other arrangements can be…
The electronic structure of a vortex pinned by an insulating columnar inclusion in a type-II chiral $p_x \pm i p_y$ superconductor is studied within the Bogolubov-de Gennes theory. The structure of the anomalous spectral branch is shown to…
We investigate the microscopic mechanisms giving rise to plastic depinning and irreversible flow in vortex matter. The topology of the vortex array crucially determines the flow response of this system. To illustrate this claim, two…
The equilibrium properties of flux lines pinned by columnar disorder are studied, using the analogy with the time evolution of a diffusing scalar density in a randomly amplifying medium. Near H_{c1}, the physical features of the vortices in…
We report on the degree of order of the vortex solid in YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals observed in ac susceptibility measurements. We show that when vortices are "shaken" by a temporarily symmetric ac field they are driven into an easy-to-move,…