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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Scanning SQUID Study of Vortex Manipulation by Local Contact
Published on: February 1, 2017
Symmetric and asymmetric vortex-antivortex molecules in a fourfold superconducting geometry
R Geurts1, M V Milosević, F M Peeters
1Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium.
Abstract:
In submicron superconducting squares in a homogeneous magnetic field, Ginzburg-Landau theory may admit solutions of the vortex-antivortex type, conforming to the symmetry of the sample [L. F. Chibotaru, Nature (London) 408, 833 (2000)10.1038/35048521]. Here we show that these fascinating, but never experimentally observed states, can be enforced by artificial fourfold pinning, with their diagnostic features enhanced by orders of magnitude. The second-order nucleation of vortex-antivortex molecules can be driven by either temperature or an applied magnetic field, with stable asymmetric vortex-antivortex equilibria found on its path.
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