Scanning vortex microscopy reveals thickness-dependent pinning nano-network in superconducting niobium films
The presence of quantum vortices determines the electromagnetic response of superconducting materials and devices. Controlling the motion of vortices and their pinning on intrinsic and artificial defects is therefore essential for further development of superconducting electronics. Here we take advantage of the attractive force between a magnetic tip of the Magnetic Force Microscope and a single quantum vortex to spatially map the pinning force inside 50–240 nm thick magnetron-sputtered niobium films, widely used in various applications. The revealed pinning nanonetwork is related to the thickness-dependent granular structure of the films as well as to the characteristic microscopic scales of superconductivity. Our approach is general and can be directly applied to other type-II granular superconducting materials and nanodevices. Controlling the motion and pinning of vortices is essential for developing superconducting electronics. Here, the authors reveal the vortex pinning nano-network in thin superconducting niobium films by developing a scanning quantum vortex microscopy approach.
Authors
- Andrey G. Shishkin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2323-9773)
- I. A. Golovchanskiy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9469-037X)
- Razmik A. Hovhannisyan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7870-4177)
- Nadezhda E. Kupchinskaya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9491-1439)
- Sergey Grebenchuk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4565-7167)
- S. A. Larionov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7854-0843)
- V. S. Stolyarov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5317-0818)
- A. Yu. Aladyshkin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5551-2474)
- Olga V. Skryabina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1863-4733)
- Artem K. Grebenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3193-4386)
- Alexey V. Samokhvalov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0612-5440)
- A. S. Mel’nikov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4241-467X)
- D. Roditchev
- Vyacheslav Dremov
- Ekaterina A. Dobrovolskaya
Institutions
- National University of Science and Technology (RU)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (RU)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Laboratoire de Physique et d’Étude des Matériaux (FR)
- Osipyan Institute of Solid State Physics RAS (RU)
- All Russia Research Institute of Automatics (RU)
- Institute for Physics of Microstructures (RU)
- N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (RU)
- ESPCI Paris (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Materials
- Published
- 2025-03-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00759-6
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.29
Funders
- Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
- Russian Science Foundation