Scanning SQUID microscopy of vortex clusters in multiband superconductors

Abstract

In type-1.5 superconductors, vortices emerge in clusters, which grow in size with increasing magnetic field. These vortex clusters and their field dependence are directly visualized by scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscopy at very low vortex densities in ${\text{MgB}}_{2}$ single crystals. Our observations are elucidated by simulations based on a two-gap Ginzburg-Landau theory in the type-1.5 regime.