Showing papers by "Irina V. Grigorieva published in 2007"
TL;DR: Evidence is presented for a new, pinning-related, mechanism for vortex merger and it is shown that confinement in combination with strong disorder causes individual vortices to merge into clusters or even GVs well below Tc and Hc2, in contrast to well-defined shells of individual vortsices found in the absence of pinning.
Abstract: Merged, or giant, multiquanta vortices (GVs) are known to appear in very small superconductors near the superconducting transition due to strong confinement of magnetic flux. Here we present evidence for a new, pinning-related, mechanism for vortex merger. Using Bitter decoration to visualize vortices in small Nb disks with varying degrees of disorder, we show that confinement in combination with strong disorder causes individual vortices to merge into clusters or even GVs well below Tc and Hc2, in contrast to well-defined shells of individual vortices found in the absence of pinning.
73 citations