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Tearing transition and plastic flow in superconducting thin films

Nature Materials volume 2, pages 477–481 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

A new class of artificial atoms, such as synthetic nanocrystals or vortices in superconductors, naturally self-assemble into ordered arrays. This property makes them applicable to the design of novel solids, and devices whose properties often depend on the response of such assemblies to the action of external forces. Here we study the transport properties of a vortex array in the Corbino disk geometry by numerical simulations. In response to an injected current in the superconductor, the global resistance associated to vortex motion exhibits sharp jumps at two threshold current values. The first corresponds to a tearing transition from rigid rotation to plastic flow, due to the reiterative nucleation around the disk centre of neutral dislocation pairs that unbind and glide across the entire disk. After the second jump, we observe a smoother plastic phase proceeding from the coherent glide of a larger number of dislocations arranged into radial grain boundaries.

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Figure 1: The velocity (v) profiles as a function of the applied current (I) for N = 1032 vortices in a disk of radius D = 18.
Figure 2: The resistance and the number of fivefold vortices as a function of the current.
Figure 3: A series of snapshots illustrating dislocation dynamics.
Figure 4: The resistance noise power spectrum for N = 1032 vortices in a disk of radius D = 18 under an applied current I = 0.0375.
Figure 5: The threshold current I0 Inset: the value of I0 as a function of the number of vortices N for different disk radii D.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Jung, M. Zaiser, R. Pastor-Satorras, and J. S. Andrade Jr. for useful remarks. This work is supported by an Italy–Spain Integrated Action. M.C.M. is supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Spain).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Física Fonamental, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 647, Barcelona, E-08028, Spain

    M. -Carmen Miguel

  2. Dipartimento di Fisica, INFM unità di Roma 1 and SMC, Università “La Sapienza”, P.le A. Moro 2, Roma, 00185, Italy

    Stefano Zapperi

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Correspondence to Stefano Zapperi.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information, Fig. S1

Supplementary Information, Fig. S2 (PDF 234 kb)

41563_2003_BFnmat909_MOESM2_ESM.gif

Supplementary Information, Movie 1The onset of plastic flow (I =0.04) in a system of radius D = 18 with N = 1032 vortices. (GIF 1230 kb)

41563_2003_BFnmat909_MOESM3_ESM.gif

Supplementary Information, Movie 2The onset of plastic flow (I = 0.04) in a system of radius D = 36 with N = 1032 vortices. (GIF 1246 kb)

41563_2003_BFnmat909_MOESM4_ESM.gif

Supplementary Information, Movie 3The laminar phase (I = 0.3) when defects are arranged into grain boundaries, in a system of radius D = 18 with N = 1-32 vortices. (GIF 1422 kb)

41563_2003_BFnmat909_MOESM5_ESM.gif

Supplementary Information, Movie 4The laminar phase (I = 0.3) when defects are arranged into grain boundaries, in a system of radius D = 36 with N = 2064 vortices. (GIF 1775 kb)

41563_2003_BFnmat909_MOESM6_ESM.gif

Supplementary Information, Movie 5The first transient steps before reaching the laminar phase corresponding (I = 0.3) in a system of radius D = 36 with N = 2064 vortices. In this animation each snapshot is separated by dt = 3 timesteps and the sequence is cycled. (GIF 1396 kb)

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Miguel, MC., Zapperi, S. Tearing transition and plastic flow in superconducting thin films. Nature Mater 2, 477–481 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat909

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