Meissner effect measurement of single indium particle using a customized on-chip nano-scale superconducting quantum interference device system

Abstract

As many emergent phenomena of superconductivity appear on a smaller scale and at lower dimension, commercial magnetic property measurement systems (MPMSs) no longer provide the sensitivity necessary to study the Meissner effect of small superconductors. The nano-scale superconducting quantum interference device (nano-SQUID) is considered one of the most sensitive magnetic sensors for the magnetic characterization of mesoscopic or microscopic samples. Here, we develop a customized on-chip nano-SQUID measurement system based on a pulsed current biasing method. The noise performance of our system is approximately 4.6 × 10−17 emu/Hz1/2, representing an improvement of 9 orders of magnitude compared with that of a commercial MPMS (~10−8 emu/Hz1/2). Furthermore, we demonstrate the measurement of the Meissner effect of a single indium (In) particle (of 47 μm in diameter) using our on-chip nano-SQUID system. The system enables the observation of the prompt superconducting transition of the Meissner effect of a single In particle, thereby providing more accurate characterization of the critical field Hc and temperature Tc. In addition, the retrapping field Hre as a function of temperature T of single In particle shows disparate behavior from that of a large ensemble.

Measurement of Meissner effect in micro-sized Nb and FeSe crystals using an NbN nano-SQUID

“…As the fabrication of the NbN nano-SQUID is still crude and the device has a large critical current, there is a hysteresis in the current-voltage curves because of thermal heating. In this case, we used a pulsedcurrent bias method to avoid the hysteresis in the measurement [21,22]. Briefly, a constant number N pulse of current pulses of amplitude I pulse is sent to the nano-SQUID.…”

Temperature-Independent Sensor of the Magnetic Field Based on FBG and Terfenol-D

“…Currently, sensors of the magnetic field are widely used in various fields, such as fault diagnosis of industrial machinery [ 1 , 2 ], biomedical detection [ 3 , 4 ], electronic navigation monitoring [ 5 ], aerospace [ 6 , 7 ], and more. Conventional sensors of the magnetic field in use today are based on principles such as the Hall effect [ 8 , 9 ], the Faraday law of electromagnetic induction [ 10 ], the Josephson effect [ 11 ], the Meissner effect [ 12 ], the Magnetoresistance effects [ 13 , 14 ], and the Giant Magnetoresistance effect [ 15 , 16 ]. However, these sensors have a complex structure, high cost, and are susceptible to electromagnetic interference to some degree.…”