Vortex nucleation barriers and stable fractional vortices near boundaries in multicomponent superconductors
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Vortex nucleation barriers and stable fractional vortices near boundaries in multicomponent superconductors. / Maiani, Andrea; Benfenati, Andrea; Babaev, Egor.
I: Physical Review B, Bind 105, Nr. 22, 224507, 08.06.2022.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Vortex nucleation barriers and stable fractional vortices near boundaries in multicomponent superconductors
AU - Maiani, Andrea
AU - Benfenati, Andrea
AU - Babaev, Egor
PY - 2022/6/8
Y1 - 2022/6/8
N2 - The magnetization process of a superconductor is determined by the potential barrier for vortex nucleation and escape. In multicomponent superconductors, fractional vortices with a winding in the phase of only one of the components can be stable topological solitons that carry a fraction of the flux quantum. While the formation of such objects in the bulk costs logarithmically or linearly divergent energy, these objects were shown to be stable near the samples??? boundaries in the two-component London model. Therefore the conventional Bean-Livingston picture of magnetic flux entry does not apply to these superconductors, since the entry process can involve fractionalization of a vortex. In this paper, we address the nonlinear problem of determining the potential barrier for fluxoid penetration in a multicomponent superconductor, including the effects of various intercomponent couplings, by using the recently developed gauged string method. The method allows numerically exact (i.e., convergent) calculation of a sphaleron configuration in a gauge theory and thus the height of the nucleation barrier. We show how the fractionalized nucleation processes result in multiple sphalerons and intermediate states due to the complex shape of the energy landscape of multicomponent superconductors.
AB - The magnetization process of a superconductor is determined by the potential barrier for vortex nucleation and escape. In multicomponent superconductors, fractional vortices with a winding in the phase of only one of the components can be stable topological solitons that carry a fraction of the flux quantum. While the formation of such objects in the bulk costs logarithmically or linearly divergent energy, these objects were shown to be stable near the samples??? boundaries in the two-component London model. Therefore the conventional Bean-Livingston picture of magnetic flux entry does not apply to these superconductors, since the entry process can involve fractionalization of a vortex. In this paper, we address the nonlinear problem of determining the potential barrier for fluxoid penetration in a multicomponent superconductor, including the effects of various intercomponent couplings, by using the recently developed gauged string method. The method allows numerically exact (i.e., convergent) calculation of a sphaleron configuration in a gauge theory and thus the height of the nucleation barrier. We show how the fractionalized nucleation processes result in multiple sphalerons and intermediate states due to the complex shape of the energy landscape of multicomponent superconductors.
KW - TYPE-1.5 SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
KW - TRANSITION
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevB.105.224507
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevB.105.224507
M3 - Journal article
VL - 105
JO - Physical Review B
JF - Physical Review B
SN - 2469-9950
IS - 22
M1 - 224507
ER -
ID: 315400130