Dipole-induced vortex ratchets in superconducting films with arrays of micromagnets

Silva, C. C. de Souza; Silhanek, A. V.; Van de Vondel, J.; Gillijns, W.; Metlushko, V.; Ilic, B.; Moshchalkov, V. V.

Dipole-induced vortex ratchets in superconducting films with arrays of micromagnets

Authors

Silva, C. C. de Souza

Description

We investigate the transport properties of superconducting films with periodic arrays of in-plane magnetized micromagnets. Two different magnetic textures are studied: a square array of magnetic bars and a close-packed array of triangular microrings. As confirmed by MFM imaging, the magnetic state of both systems can be adjusted to produce arrays of almost point-like magnetic dipoles. By carrying out transport measurements with ac drive, we observed experimentally a recently predicted ratchet effect induced by the interaction between superconducting vortices and the magnetic dipoles. Moreover, we find that these magnetic textures produce vortex-antivortex patterns, which have a crucial role on the transport properties of this hybrid system.
4 pages, 4 figures