Vortex jets generated by edge defects in current-carrying superconductor thin strips

Abstract

At sufficiently large transport currents, a defect at the edge of a superconducting strip acts as a gate for the vortices entering it. These vortices form a jet, which is narrow near the defect and expands due to the repulsion of vortices as they move to the opposite edge of the strip, giving rise to a transverse voltage. Here, the authors predict a nonmonotonicity of the transverse current-voltage curve which can be measured with Hall voltage leads placed at a rather small distance apart from the edge defect. The authors corroborate their findings experimentally for MoSi thin strips with individual edge defects as well as numerically, reproducing the calculated vortex jet shapes and transverse $I$-$V$ curves.