Modern Magnetic Systems
Note: This department has relocated.

Transmission x-ray microscopy at low temperatures: Irregular supercurrent flow at small length scales

2018

Article

mms


Scanning transmission x-ray microscopy has been used to image electric currents in superconducting films at temperatures down to 20 K. We detect significant deviations from a regular current path driven by macroscopic geometrical constraints. The magnetic stray field of supercurrents in a thin YBaCuO film is mapped into a soft-magnetic coating of permalloy. The so-created local magnetization of the ferromagnetic film can be detected by dichroic absorption of polarized x rays. To enable high-quality measurements in transmission geometry, the whole heterostructure of ferromagnet, superconductor, and single-crystalline substrate has been thinned to an overall thickness of less than 1 µm. With this technique, local supercurrents can be analyzed in a wide range of temperatures and magnetic fields. The less than 100 nm spatial resolution of the magnetic signal together with simultaneously obtained nanostructural data allow the correlation of local supercurrents with the micro- and nanostructure of the superconducting film.

Author(s): Simmendinger, J. and Ruoss, S. and Stahl, C. and Weigand, M. and Gräfe, J. and Schütz, G. and Albrecht, J.
Journal: {Physical Review B}
Volume: 97
Number (issue): 13
Year: 2018
Publisher: American Physical Society

Department(s): Modern Magnetic Systems
Bibtex Type: Article (article)

Address: Woodbury, NY
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.97.134515
Language: eng

BibTex

@article{escidoc:0017,
  title = {{Transmission x-ray microscopy at low temperatures: Irregular supercurrent flow at small length scales}},
  author = {Simmendinger, J. and Ruoss, S. and Stahl, C. and Weigand, M. and Gr\"afe, J. and Sch\"utz, G. and Albrecht, J.},
  journal = {{Physical Review B}},
  volume = {97},
  number = {13},
  publisher = {American Physical Society},
  address = {Woodbury, NY},
  year = {2018},
  doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.97.134515}
}