Magnetic field induced emergent inhomogeneity in a superconducting film with weak and homogeneous disorder

Abstract

When a magnetic field is applied, the mixed state of a conventional Type II superconductor gets destroyed at the upper critical field Hc2, where the normal vortex cores overlap with each other. Here, we show that in the presence weak and homogeneous disorder the destruction of superconductivity with field follows a different route. Starting with a weakly disordered NbN thin film ( Tc ~ 9K ), we show that under the application of magnetic field the superconducting state becomes increasingly granular, where lines of vortices separate the superconducting islands. Consequently, phase fluctuations between these islands give rise to a field induced pseudogap phase, which has a gap in the electronic density of states but where the global zero resistance state is destroyed.