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Observation of superconducting vortices carrying a temperature-dependent fraction of the flux quantum

ORAL

Abstract

This work investigates isolated vortices in the hole-overdoped Ba1-xKxFe2As2 (x=0.77) by using scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry. At low field, we observed vortices that were well separated from their neighbors. In many locations, we observed vortices that carried only part of a flux quantum, with a magnitude that varied continuously with temperature. We interpret these features as vortices with non-quantized magnetic flux, sometimes called fractional or partial vortices whose magnitude is determined by the temperature-dependent parameters of a multiband superconductor. We further characterize the mobility and manipulability of the fractional vortices.

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Presenters

  • Yusuke Iguchi

    Stanford University, Stanford university, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Authors

  • Yusuke Iguchi

    Stanford University, Stanford university, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  • Ruby A Shi

    Stanford University, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

  • Kunihiro Kihou

    National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), AIST

  • Chul-Ho Lee

    National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), AIST

  • Mats Barkman

    KTH Royal Institute of Technology

  • Andrea Benfenati

    KTH Royal Institute of Technology

  • Vadim Grinenko

    Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Technische Universitat Dresden, Dresden, Germany, TU Dresden

  • Egor Babaev

    KTH Royal Institute of Technology

  • Kathryn A Moler

    Stanford University, Stanford Univ, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory