Use of thermal gradients for control of vortex matter in mesoscopic superconductors

Abstract

Usually, the measurements of electronic and magnetic properties of superconducting samples are carried out under a constant temperature bath. On the other hand, thermal gradients induce local variation of the superconducting order parameter, and the vortex dynamics can present interesting behaviors. In this work, we solved the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations simulating samples under two different thermal gradients, and considering two values of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter, κ. We find that both parameters, i.e. κ and thermal gradients, play an important role on the vortex dynamics and on the magnetization behavior of the samples.

Random distribution of topological defects in mesoscopic superconducting samples

“…We studied the influence of topological defects at different temperatures randomly located in the sample of the shape [18]:…”

Manipulation of vortex arrays with thermal gradients by applying dynamic heat sources

“…As mentioned above, the thermal effect is another interesting point for the vortex matter. The thermal gradient is an effective method to control the vortex dynamics [15,34,35]. The energy dissipation caused by the vortex motion can lead to a local temperature rise [36][37][38], and even macroscopic thermomagnetic instabilities [39][40][41][42][43].…”