Influence of microscopic defects in type-II superconducting thin films on the magnetic flux penetration

The magnetic flux penetration into thin type-II superconducting films with circular defects is investigated. The artificial circular defects ~diameter 540 mm) in an YBa2Cu3O72d thin film~thickness '300 nm) were prepared by pulse-laser irradiation. The flux penetration into the zero-field-cooled superconducting film was visualized by means of the magneto-optic method. A stepwise increase of the external magnetic field allowed a detailed investigation of the influence of local defects on the flux penetration. For a magnetic field parallel to a long sample ~longitudinal geometry! with a long cylindrical defect a single parabolic discontinuity line appears. Also in the case of a thin superconducting film exposed to a transverse magnetic field~transverse geometry!, a single parabolic discontinuity line has been supposed in the vicinity of a local defect. On the contrary, our investigations show that the flux and current distribution around a single defect in a supercon- ducting thin film can be determined not by a single, but by two discontinuity parabolas. In thin superconduct- ing films in transverse geometry screening currents in the Meissner region (j, j c) are present in contrast to extended infinitely long samples in the longitudinal geometry. We explain our experimental results by the influence of these Meissner screening currents on the temporal formation of the shape of an approaching flux front.