Magnetic Recording of Superconducting States

Sylvain Blanco Blanco Alvarez,Maycon Motta,Benoît Vanderheyden,Lincoln B. L. G. Pinheiro,Gorky Shaw,Jérémy Brisbois,Roman B. G. Kramer,Alejandro V. Silhanek,Karl Fleury-Frenette,Loïc Burger,Wilson Aires Ortiz

doi:10.3390/met9101022

Sylvain Blanco Blanco Alvarez, Maycon Motta + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/met9101022

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Abstract

Local polarization of magnetic materials has become a well-known and widely used method for storing binary information. Numerous applications in our daily life such as credit cards, computer hard drives, and the popular magnetic drawing board toy, rely on this principle. In this work, we review the recent advances on the magnetic recording of inhomogeneous magnetic landscapes produced by superconducting films. We summarize the current compelling experimental evidence showing that magnetic recording can be applied for imprinting in a soft magnetic layer the flux trajectory taking place in a superconducting layer at cryogenic temperatures. This approach enables the ex situ observation at room temperature of the imprinted magnetic flux landscape obtained below the critical temperature of the superconducting state. The undeniable appeal of the proposed technique lies in its simplicity and the potential to improve the spatial resolution, possibly down to the scale of a few vortices.

Highlights

Superconductivity and magnetic order are two macroscopic quantum coherent states of antagonistic nature, leading to competing ground states [1,2,3]
We have presented the currently available experimental evidence of imprinting in a ferromagnetic layer the inhomogeneous magnetic landscapes generated by a superconductor
Part of the appeal of the technique arises from the persistence of the imprinted magnetic landscape up to room temperature so as to be comfortably inspected ex-situ

Summary

Introduction

Superconductivity and magnetic order are two macroscopic quantum coherent states of antagonistic nature, leading to competing ground states [1,2,3] This competition manifests itself in the scarceness of compounds exhibiting coexistence between long-range magnetic order and superconductivity [4,5,6,7,8], and is reflected in the phase diagram of cuprate superconductors where an antiferromagnetic phase develops at the expense of the superconducting phase [9,10].

Superconducting Vortices as Magnetic Tweezers

Damping of Flux Motion Caused by a Nearby Magnetic Layer

Tracking the Flux Penetration Footsteps by Magnetic Imprinting

Techniques to Detect Magnetic Recording of Superconducting States

Observation of Imprinted Flux Trajectories in Permalloy Using MOI

Observation of Imprinted Flux Trajectories in Co Using MOI

Conclusions and Outlook