Title: Parallel magnetic field suppresses dissipation in superconducting nanostrips

Abstract

The motion of Abrikosov vortices in type-II superconductors results in a finite resistance in the presence of an applied electric current. Elimination or reduction of the resistance via immobilization of vortices is the "holy grail" of superconductivity research. Common wisdom dictates that an increase in the magnetic field escalates the loss of energy since the number of vortices increases. Here we show that this is no longer true if the magnetic field and the current are applied parallel to each other. Our experimental studies on the resistive behavior of a superconducting Mo_0.79Ge_0.21 nanostrip reveal the emergence of a dissipative state with increasing magnetic field, followed by a pronounced resistance drop, signifying a reentrance to the superconducting state. Large-scale simulations of the 3D time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau model indicate that the intermediate resistive state is due to an unwinding of twisted vortices. When the magnetic field increases, this instability is suppressed due to a better accommodation of the vortex lattice to the pinning configuration. Lastly, our findings show that magnetic field and geometrical confinement can suppress the dissipation induced by vortex motion and thus radically improve the performance of superconducting materials.

Authors:

Wang, Yong-Lei ^[1]; Glatz, Andreas ^[2]; Kimmel, Gregory J. ^[3]; Aranson, Igor S. ^[4]; Thoutam, Laxman R. ^[2]; Xiao, Zhi-Li ^[2]; Berdiyorov, Golibjon R. ^[5]; Peeters, François M. ^[6]; Crabtree, George W. ^[7]; Kwok, Wai-Kwong ^[8]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439,, Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556,, Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China,
2. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439,, Department of Physics, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115,
3. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439,, Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208,
4. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439,, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802,
5. Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar,
6. Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium,
7. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439,, Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60607,, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60607,, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60607
8. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439,

Publication Date:

2017-11-13

Research Org.:

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); National Science Foundation (NSF)

OSTI Identifier:

1408569

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1474152

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC02-06CH11357

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Volume: 114 Journal Issue: 48; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424

Publisher:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; nanostrips; parallel magnetic field; reentrant superconductivity; vortex