Parallel magnetic field suppresses dissipation in superconducting nanostrips

Journal Article · 12 November 2017 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1619550114 · OSTI ID:1408569

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]

---

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,

Significance Absolute zero resistance of superconducting materials is difficult to achieve in practice due to the motion of microscopic Abrikosov vortices, especially when external currents are applied. Even a partial resistance reduction via vortex immobilization by microscopic material imperfections is the holy grail of superconductivity research. It is commonly believed that the dissipation increases with applied magnetic field since the number of vortices increases as well. Through the example of molybdenum–germanium superconducting nanostrips, we show that resistive losses due to vortex motion can actually be decreased by applying an increasing applied magnetic field parallel to the current. This surprising recovery of superconductivity is achieved through “vortex crowding”: The increased number of vortices impedes their mutual motion, resulting in straight, untwisted vortices.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) (SC-21); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1408569
• Journal Information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Issue: 48 Vol. 114; ISSN 0027-8424
• Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English