Magnetic field stimulated enhancement of the barrier for vortex penetration in bended bridges of thin TaN films

Abstract

An increase of the supercurrent density in the vicinity of sharp bends of mesoscopic superconducting strips (the current crowding) leads to a decrease of the potential barrier for vortex penetration and thus to a decrease of the measured critical current IC of the strip in comparison to the de-pairing critical current. However, it has been shown that the Meissner currents induced by an external magnetic field of appropriate direction reduce the effect of current crowding resulting in an increase of the measured IC of superconducting mesoscopic structures with bends. We performed a detailed experimental investigation of the dependence of critical current on magnetic field in straight and bended bridges made from thin TaN films. Indeed, in the case of bridges with bends, the critical current reaches a maximum at non-zero magnetic fields which value increases with an increase of the angle of bends.