Open AccessMagnetic gates and guides for superconducting vortices
Author(s) -
Vitalii Vlasko-Vlasov,
F. Colauto,
Alexandre I. Buzdin,
Daniel Rosenmann,
Timothy Benseman,
W. K. Kwok
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
physical review. b./physical review. b
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.78
H-Index - 465
eISSN - 2469-9969
pISSN - 2469-9950
DOI - 10.1103/physrevb.95.144504
Subject(s) - permalloy , vortex , condensed matter physics , strips , superconductivity , magnetic field , physics , magnetization , scaling , magnetic flux , materials science , mechanics , geometry , quantum mechanics , mathematics , composite material
International audienceWe image the motion of superconducting vortices in niobium film covered with a regular array of thin permalloy strips. By altering the magnetization orientation in the strips using a small in-plane magnetic field, we can tune the strength of interactions between vortices and the strip edges, enabling acceleration or retardation of the superconducting vortices in the sample and consequently introducing strong tunable anisotropy into the vortex dynamics. We discuss our observations in terms of the attraction/repulsion between point magnetic charges carried by vortices and lines of magnetic charges at the strip edges and derive analytical formulas for the vortex-magnetic strips coupling. Our approach demonstrates the analogy between the vortex motion regulated by the magnetic strip array and electric carrier flow in gated semiconducting devices. Scaling down the geometrical features of the proposed design may enable controlled manipulation of single vortices, paving the way for Abrikosov vortex microcircuits and memories