Continuous vortex cutting in type II superconductors with longitudinal current

Journal Article · Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1980 · J. Low Temp. Phys.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00118064· OSTI ID:5237016

Brandt, E H

The consequences of stipulating translational symmetry for a type II superconductor to which longitudinal electric current and longitudinal magnetic field are applied are investigated. The magnetic flux lines must cut each other continuously in order to generate an electric field in this symmetry. We describe the steady state by two interpenetrating vortex lattices moving into and out of the sample. We find for the slab and cylinder geometries that cutting, cross-joining, and subsequent straightening of the flux lines reduce the electric field, as compared with the normal conducting state, by a factor which is of the order of one over the total number of flux lines in the cylinder. We conclude that the much larger voltages observed in cylinders of several millimeters diameter can be explained only by a breakdown of translational symmetry. With translational symmetry, the voltage initially increases as the third power of the current. The resulting vortex configuration is force-free. The transverse flux component increases and the longitudinal component decreases from the axis to the surface, leading to a paramagnetic moment. The drift of oscillation velocity of the flux lines is reduced by the same factor as the electric field. We predict low-frequency oscillations of the vortices near the surface of thin superconducting wires.

• Research Organization: Max-Planck-Institut fuer Metallforschung, Institut fuer Physik, Stuttgart, West Germany
• OSTI ID: 5237016
• Journal Information: J. Low Temp. Phys.; (United States), Vol. 39:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
SUPERCONDUCTING WIRES
MAGNETIC FLUX
TYPE-II SUPERCONDUCTORS
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
ELECTRIC FIELDS
OSCILLATIONS
SLABS
SYMMETRY
CONFIGURATION
SUPERCONDUCTORS
WIRES
656102* - Solid State Physics- Superconductivity- Acoustic
Electronic
Magnetic
Optical
& Thermal Phenomena- (-1987)