Alumni Association
Professor Simon Bending (University of Bath)
20 October 2011
Joint Research Project
Project title: Visualization and Control of Quantized Vortices in the Crossing-Lattices State of Anisotropic Superconductors
Japanese Lead Scientist: Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo
UK Counterpart: Professor Simon Bending Department of Physics, University of Bath
Project Duration: 2008 to 2010
Description of project
The primary aim of this project was to explore and understand novel approaches to vortex manipulation in the crossing lattices regime of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+ (BSCCO). Complementary magnetic imaging expertise in Bath (scanning Hall probe imaging (SHPM)) and Tokyo (high resolution magneto-optical imaging (MO)) were exploited to investigate vortex structures and dynamics in highly anisotropic high temperature superconducting (HTS) structures. The work focussed on two inter-related areas:-
(i) Indirect manipulation of pancake vortices via their interaction with periodically moving stacks of Josephson vortices. We attempted to improve the efficiency of such 'vortex ratchet-like' devices by driving the Josephson vortex stacks with a periodic sawtooth current applied perpendicular to the CuO2 planes (instead of the sawtooth in-plane field used previously) and by milling trenches into the surface of the superconducting crystal to actively guide pancake vortices in the desired direction of motion.
(ii) We investigated how vortex structures confined in mesoscopic HTS samples are influenced by the size and shape of the confinement potential. In addition we applied in-plane fields along chosen high/low symmetry directions to study how these properties vary in the crossing lattices regime.
※Click here to view the full report (pdf).
