Observation of superconducting vortex clusters in S/F hybrids

Di Giorgio, C.; Bobba, F.; Cucolo, A. M.; Scarfato, A.; Moore, S. A.; Karapetrov, G.; D’Agostino, D.; Novosad, V.; Yefremenko, V.; Iavarone, M.

doi:10.1038/srep38557

Observation of superconducting vortex clusters in S/F hybrids

Journal Article · Fri Dec 09 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep38557· OSTI ID:1340591

Di Giorgio, C. ^[1]; Bobba, F. ^[2]; Cucolo, A. M. ^[3]; Scarfato, A. ^[4]; Moore, S. A. ^[5]; Karapetrov, G. ^[6]; D’Agostino, D. ^[2]; Novosad, V. ^[7]; Yefremenko, V. ^[8]; ^[5]

Univ. of Salerno, Fisciano (Italy); Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Univ. of Salerno, Fisciano (Italy)
Univ. of Salerno, Fisciano (Italy); CNR-SPIN Salerno, Fisciano (Italy)
Univ. of Salerno, Fisciano (Italy); Univ. of Geneva, Geneva (Switzerland)
Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); National Univ. of Science and Technology (MISiS), Moscow (Russia)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

While Abrikosov vortices repel each other and form a uniform vortex lattice in bulk type-II superconductors, strong confinement potential profoundly affects their spatial distribution eventually leading to vortex cluster formation. The confinement could be induced by the geometric boundaries in mesoscopic-size superconductors or by the spatial modulation of the magnetic field in superconductor/ ferromagnet (S/F) hybrids. Here we study the vortex confinement in S/F thin film heterostructures and we observe that vortex clusters appear near magnetization inhomogeneities in the ferromagnet, called bifurcations. We use magnetic force microscopy to image magnetic bifurcations and superconducting vortices, while high resolution scanning tunneling microscopy is used to obtain detailed information of the local electronic density of states outside and inside the vortex cluster. We find an intervortex spacing at the bifurcation shorter than the one predicted for the same superconductor in a uniform magnetic field equal to the thermodynamical upper critical field H_c2. This result is due to a local enhanced stray field and a competition between vortex-vortex repulsion and Lorentz force. Here, our findings suggest that special magnetic topologies could result in S/F hybrids that support superconductivity even when locally the vortex density exceeds the thermodynamic critical threshold value beyond which the superconductivity is destroyed.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Russian Federation - Ministry of Education and Science; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22) - Materials Sciences and Engineering Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; SC0004556

OSTI ID:: 1340591

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1631733

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 6; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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