Imaging the spontaneous formation of vortex-antivortex pairs in planar superconductor/ferromagnet hybrid structures.

Journal Article · Thu Jul 07 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Phys. Rev. B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.84.024506· OSTI ID:1020702

Iavarone, M; Scarfato, A; Bobba, F; Longobardi, M; Karapetrov, G; Novosad, V; Yefremenko, V; Giubileo, F; Cucolo, A M ^[1]

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1. Materials Science Division

Low-temperature magnetic force microscopy has been used to visualize spontaneous formation of vortex-antivortex pairs in hybrid ferromagnet/superconductor systems. Vortex-antivortex pairs are induced by the periodic stray field of the ferromagnet. We find general equilibrium conditions for which spontaneous vortex-antivortex pairs are formed during zero-field cooling of the hybrid ferromagnet/superconductor bilayers. Vortices can be generated by the ferromagnet domains in the absence of an external field and they are thermodynamically stable for values of the stray field and the period of the stripe magnetic domains that exceed a certain threshold.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC); Italian Ministry for Higher Education and Research
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1020702
• Report Number(s): ANL/MSD/JA-70312; TRN: US201116%%600
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 84, Issue Jul. 7, 2011
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
VORTICES
FERROMAGNETISM