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Condensed Matter > Superconductivity
Title: Multiple-flux-quanta vortices and quasiparticle states in the two-band superconductor Pb
(Submitted on 15 Nov 2022 (this version), latest version 10 Feb 2023 (v2))
Abstract: Superconductors are classified by their behaviour in a magnetic field into type-I, which transition from a superconducting Meissner to a normal metallic state at the critical field and type-II, which have an additional Shubnikov phase of an Abrikosov lattice consisting of vortices with one magnetic flux quantum, each. For type-I superconductors of finite lateral dimensions, the transition to the normal state is, however, known to occur locally in form of domains in the so called intermediate Landau state. Although bulk lead (Pb) is classified as a prototypical type-I superconductor, we surprisingly observe single-flux-quantum and multiple-flux-quanta vortices in the intermediate state using mK scanning tunneling microscopy. These vortices have a diameter of at least $\approx 100\,\mathrm{nm}$ and grow in size with the number of confined flux quanta $\Phi_{0} = h/2e$. By probing the quasiparticle local density of states (LDOS) inside the vortices and comparison with simulations, we identify the Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon states of the two superconducting bands of Pb and use them to determine the winding number of the vortices.
Submission history
From: Thomas Gozlinski [view email][v1] Tue, 15 Nov 2022 16:26:10 GMT (10483kb,D)
[v2] Fri, 10 Feb 2023 16:54:55 GMT (8582kb,D)
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