Perspective: Challenges and Transformative Opportunities in Superconductor Vortex Physics

Abstract

In superconductors, the motion of vortices introduces unwanted dissipation that is disruptive to applications. Fortunately, material defects can immobilize vortices, acting as vortex pinning centers, which engenders dramatic improvements in superconductor material properties and device operation. This has motivated decades of research into developing methods of tailoring the disorder landscape in superconductors to increase the strength of vortex pinning. Yet efficacious materials engineering still alludes us. The electromagnetic properties of real (disordered) superconducting materials cannot yet be reliably predicted, such that designing superconductors for applications remains a largely inefficient process of trial and error. This is ultimately due to large gaps in our knowledge of vortex dynamics: the field is challenged by the extremely complex interplay between vortex elasticity, vortex-vortex interactions, and material disorder.In this Perspective, we review obstacles and recent successes in understanding and controlling vortex dynamics in superconducting materials and devices. We further identify major open questions and discuss opportunities for transformative research in the field. This includes improving our understanding of vortex creep, determining and reaching the ceiling for the critical current, advanced microscopy to garner accurate structure-property relationships, frontiers in predictive simulations and the benefits of artificial intelligence, as well as controlling and exploiting vortices in quantum information applications.

Designing high-performance superconductors with nanoparticle inclusions: comparisons to strong pinning theory

“…Incorporating nanometer-size inclusions into the microstructure of high-T c copper-and iron-based superconductors can drastically increase the material's critical current density J c , below which transport is dissipation-free. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] This is because nanoparticles arrest dissipative vortex motion. In fact, while current-induced Lorentz forces and thermal energy tend to propel vortices, lines of quantized magnetic flux Φ 0 piercing the superconductor even in minute magnetic fields, defects can provide efficient pinning forces to counteract this motion.…”