Abstract
A scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscope was used to image vortex trapping asa function of the magnetic induction during cooling in thin-film YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) strips for strip widths W from 2 to 50μm. We found that vortices were excluded from the strips when the induction Ba was below a critical induction Bc. We present a simple model for the vortex exclusion process which takes into account the vortex-antivortex pair production energy as well as the vortex Meissner and self-energies. This model predictsthat the real density n of trapped vortices is given by n=(Ba-BK) φ0 with BK=1.65φ0 /W2 and φ0=h/2e the superconducting flux quantum. This prediction is in good agreement with our experiments on YBCO, as well as with previous experiments on thin-film strips of niobium. We also report on the positions of the trapped vortices. We found that at low densities the vortices were trapped in a single row near the centers of the strips, with the relative intervortex spacing distribution width decreasing as the vortex density increased, a sign of longitudinal ordering. The critical induction for two rows forming in the 35μm wide strip was (2.89+1.91 0.93)Bc, consistent with a numerical prediction.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 134504 |
Pages (from-to) | 134504- |
Journal | Physical review B: Condensed matter and materials physics |
Volume | 77 |
Issue number | 13 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2008 |