Magnetic flux pinning in superconductors with hyperbolic-tessellation arrays of pinning sites

Abstract

We study magnetic flux interacting with arrays of pinning sites (APSs) placed on vertices of hyperbolic tessellations (HTs). We show that, due to the gradient in the density of pinning sites, HT APSs are capable of trapping vortices for a broad range of applied magnetic fluxes. Thus, the penetration of magnetic field in HT APSs is essentially different from the usual scenario predicted by the Bean model. We demonstrate that, due to the enhanced asymmetry of the surface barrier for vortex entry and exit, this HT APS could be used as a ``capacitor'' to store magnetic flux.