Publication
Title
Continuum versus discrete flux behaviour in large mesoscopic disks
Author
Abstract
We have used scanning Hall probe and local Hall magnetometry measurements to map flux profiles in superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ disks whose diameters span the crossover between the bulk and mesoscopic vortex regimes. The behaviour of large disks (greater-or-equal, slanted20 μm diameter) is well described by analytic models that assume a continuous distribution of flux in the sample. Small disks (less-than-or-equals, slant10 μm diameter), on the other hand, exhibit clear signatures of the underlying discrete vortex structure as well as competition between triangular Abrikosov ordering and the formation of shell structures driven by interactions with circulating edge currents. At low fields we are able to directly observe the characteristic mesoscopic compression of vortex clusters which is linked to oscillations in the diameter of the vortex dome in increasing magnetic fields. At higher fields, where single vortex resolution is lost, we are still able to track configurational changes in the vortex patterns, since competing vortex orders impose unmistakable signatures on local magnetisation curves. Our observations are in excellent agreement with molecular-dynamics numerical simulations which lead us to a natural definition of the lengthscale for the crossover between discrete and continuum behaviour in our system.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Physica: C : superconductivity. - Amsterdam, 1988, currens
Publication
Amsterdam : North-Holland , 2010
ISSN
0921-4534 [print]
1873-2143 [online]
DOI
10.1016/J.PHYSC.2009.11.117
Volume/pages
470 :S:1 (2010) , p. S896-S897
ISI
000286075700384
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 12.04.2011
Last edited 15.11.2022
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