0000000001332501
AUTHOR
T.h. Johansen
Nanosecond voltage pulses from dendritic flux avalanches in superconducting NbN films
Combined voltage and magneto-optical study of magnetic flux flow in superconducting NbN films is reported. The nanosecond-scale voltage pulses appearing during thermomagnetic avalanches have been recorded in films partially coated by a metal layer. Simultaneous magneto-optical imaging and voltage measurements allowed the pulses to be associated with individual flux branches penetrating the superconductor below the metal coating. From detailed characteristics of pulse and flux branches, the electrical field in the superconductor is found to be in the range of 5-50 kV/m, while the propagation speed of the avalanche during its final stage is found to be close to 5 km/s. peerReviewed
Controllable morphology of flux avalanches in microstructured superconductors
The morphology of abrupt bursts of magnetic flux into superconducting films with engineered periodic pinning centers (antidots) has been investigated. Guided flux avalanches of thermomagnetic origin develop a tree-like structure, with the main trunk perpendicular to the borders of the sample, while secondary branches follow well-defi ned directions determined by the geometrical details of the underlying periodic pinning landscape. Strikingly, we demonstrate that in a superconductor with relatively weak random pinning, the morphology of such flux avalanches can be fully controlled by proper combinations of lattice symmetry and antidot geometry. Moreover, the resulting flux patterns can be re…