Dynamics and Critical Currents in Fast Superconducting Vortices at High pulsed Magnetic Fields

Abstract

Nonlinear electrical transport studies at high pulsed magnetic fields, above the range accessible by dc magnets, are of direct fundamental relevance to the physics of superconductors, domain-wall, charge-density waves, and topological semimetal. All-superconducting very high field magnets also make it technologically relevant to study vortex matter in this regime. However, pulsed magnetic fields reaching 100 T in milliseconds impose technical and fundamental challenges that have prevented the realization of these studies. Here, we present a technique for sub-microsecond smart current-voltage measurements, which enables the determination of the superconducting critical current in pulsed magnetic fields, beyond the reach of any dc magnet. We demonstrate the excellent agreement of this technique with low dc field measurements on Y0.77Gd0.23Ba2Cu3O7 coated conductors with and without BaHfO3 nanoparticles. Exploring the uncharted high-magnetic-field region, we discover a characteristic influence of the magnetic field rate of change (dH/dt) on the current-voltage curves in a superconductor. We fully capture this unexplored vortex physics through a theoretical model based on the asymmetry of the vortex-velocity profile produced by the applied current.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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