Author:

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Technology, Physical Sciences, Materials Science, Multidisciplinary, Physics, Applied, Physics, Condensed Matter, Materials Science, Physics, MESOSCOPIC SUPERCONDUCTORS, 02 Physical Sciences, 03 Chemical Sciences, 09 Engineering, Fluids & Plasmas, 34 Chemical sciences, 40 Engineering, 51 Physical sciences

Abstract:

In this work we report a scanning tunneling microscopy investigation of lithographically defined superconducting nanosquares. The obtained spectroscopic maps reveal the spatial evolution of both the superconducting condensate and the screening currents as a function of the applied magnetic field. The symmetry of the nanostructure is imposed on the condensate and it controls the distribution of the vortices inside the nanosquare.Our local study allows exploring the impact of small structural defects, omnipresent in these kind of structures,on both the supercurrent and vortex distribution. As a result, direct experimental evidence of vortex pinning and current crowding at the nanoscale has been obtained.