Optical manipulation of single flux quanta.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27677835.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms12801 and PMC identifier 5052701.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Magnetic field can penetrate into type II superconductors in the form of Abrikosov vortices, which are magnetic flux tubes surrounded by circulating supercurrents often trapped at defects referred to as pinning sites. Although the average properties of the vortex matter in superconductors can be tuned with magnetic fields, temperature or electric currents, handling of individual Abrikosov vortices remains challenging and has been demonstrated only with sophisticated scanning local probe microscopies. Here we introduce a far-field optical method based on local heating of the superconductor with a focused laser beam to realize a fast and precise manipulation of individual vortices, in the same way as with optical tweezers. This simple approach provides the perfect basis for sculpting the magnetic flux profile in superconducting devices like a vortex lens or a vortex cleaner, without resorting to static pinning or ratchet effects.