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Title: Stable fractional flux vortices in mesoscopic superconductors

Journal Article · · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
;  [1]
  1. Division of Quantum and Physical Chemistry and Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry (INPAC), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium)

Conventional superconductors have vortices carrying integer multiples of magnetic flux quantum while unconventional ones, with p- or d-wave order parameter, allow half-integer fluxes. Here, we show that mesoscopic size effects stabilize fractional flux vortices in the thermodynamical ground state of s-wave two-gap superconductors. The value of these fluxes can be an arbitrary fraction of flux quantum and can be measured directly from distributions of magnetic fields on the samples.

OSTI ID:
21366653
Journal Information:
Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.81.020502; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1098-0121
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English