Superconducting vortices carrying a temperature-dependent fraction of the flux quantum.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37262195.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.abp9979.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Magnetic field penetrates type-II bulk superconductors by forming quantum vortices that enclose a magnetic flux equal to the magnetic flux quantum. The flux quantum is a universal quantity that depends only on fundamental constants. In this study, we investigated isolated vortices in the hole-overdoped Ba<sub>1-</sub><i><sub>x</sub></i>K<i><sub>x</sub></i>Fe<sub>2</sub>As<sub>2</sub> (<i>x</i> = 0.77) by using scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry. In many locations, we observed objects that carried only part of a flux quantum, with a magnitude that varied continuously with temperature. We demonstrated mobility and manipulability of these objects and interpreted them as quantum vortices with nonuniversally quantized (fractional) magnetic flux whose magnitude is determined by the temperature-dependent parameters of a multicomponent superconductor.