Superconducting wires and fractional flux

C. A. R. Sá de Melo

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.53.12276

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Superconducting wires and fractional flux

C. A. R. Sá de Melo

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.53.12276 · Physical Review B

T1

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Abstract

The quantization of flux quanta in superconductors is revisited and analyzed in a new geometry. The system analyzed is a superconducting wire. The geometry is such that the superconducting wire winds N times around an insulating cylinder and that the wire has its end connected back to its beginning, thus producing an N-loop short circuited solenoid. The winding number N acts as a topological index that controls flux quantization. In this case, fractional flux quanta can be measured through the center of the insulating cylinder, provided that the cylinder radius is small enough. The Little-Parks experiment for an identical geometry is discussed. The period of oscillation of the transition temperature of the wire is found to vary as 1/N in units of flux Φ relative to the flux quantum Φ0. When a SQUID is made in such a geometry the maximal current through the SQUID varies with period Φ0/N. © 1996 The American Physical Society.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Formula	Reported Tc (K)	Pressure (GPa)	Type
YBa2Cu3O7 Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown
Al Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown