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A. V. Samokhvalov

Publications and source records attributed to A. V. Samokhvalov.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

Magnetic force microscopy versus scanning quantum-vortex microscopy: Probing pinning landscape in granular niobium films

We provide an overview of the methodology and fundamental principles associated with newly developed experimental technique -- scanning quantum-vortex microscopy [Hovhannisyan et al., Commun. Mater., vol. 6, 42 (2025)]. This approach appears promising for experimental studies of vortex pinning phenomena in superconducting films and nanodevices. In particular, we studied the magnetic properties of magnetron-sputtered niobium (Nb) films by low-temperature magnetic force microscopy. As the temperature approaches the superconducting critical temperature, the pinning potential caused by structural defects weakens; consequently, the attractive interaction between the magnetic tip of the cantilever and a single-quantum vortex begins to dominate. In this scenario the magnetic probe is capable of trapping a vortex during the scanning process. Because the dragged vortex continues interacting with structural defects, it serves as an efficient nano-probe to explore pinning potentials and visualize grain boundaries in granular Nb films, achieving resolutions (30 nm) comparable to the superconducting coherence length.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2021

Electron-phonon heat transfer in giant vortex states

We examine energy relaxation of non-equilibrium quasiparticles in different vortex configurations in ``dirty'' $s$-wave superconductors. The heat flow from the electronic subsystem to phonons in a mesoscopic superconducting disk with a radius of the order of several coherence lengths is calculated both in the Meissner and giant vortex states using the Usadel approach. The recombination process is shown to be strongly affected by interplay of the subgap states, located in the vortex core and in the region at the sample edge where the spectral gap $E_{\rm g}$ is reduced by the Meissner currents. In order to uncover physical origin of the results, we develop a semiquantitative analytical approximation based on the combination of homogeneous solutions of Usadel equations in Meissner and vortex states of a mesoscopic superconducting disc and analytically calculate the corresponding spatially resolved electron-phonon heat rates. Our approach provides an important information about non-equilibrium quasiparticles cooling by the magnetic-field induced traps in various mesoscopic superconducting devices.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2020

Topological transitions in electronic spectra: Crossover between Abrikosov and Josephson vortices

The electronic structure of a vortex line trapped by a planar defect in a type-II superconductor is analyzed within the Bogoliubov-de Gennes theory. The normal reflection of electrons and holes at the defect plane results in the topological transition in the spectrum and formation of a new type of quasiparticle states skipping or gliding along the defect. This topological transition appears to be a hallmark of the initial stage of the crossover from the Abrikosov to the Josephson vortex type revealing in the specific behavior of the quantized quasiparticle levels and density of states. The increase in the resulting hard and soft gaps affects the vortex mobility along the defect plane and splitting of the zero bias anomaly in the tunneling spectral characteristics.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2020

Tailored flux pinning in superconductor/ferromagnet multilayers with engineered magnetic domain morphology from stripes to skyrmions

Superconductor/Ferromagnet (S/F) hybrid systems show interesting magneto-transport behaviors that result from the transfer of properties between both constituents. For instance, magnetic memory can be transferred from the F into the S through the pinning of superconducting vortices by the ferromagnetic textures. The ability to tailor this type of induced behavior is important to broaden its range of applications. Here we show that engineering the F magnetization reversal allows tuning the strength of the vortex pinning (and memory) effects, as well as the field range in which they appear. This is done by using magnetic multilayers in which Co thin films are combined with different heavy metals (Ru, Ir, Pt). By choosing the materials, thicknesses, and stacking order of the layers, we can design the characteristic domain size and morphology, from out-of-plane magnetized stripe domains to much smaller magnetic skyrmions. These changes strongly affect the magneto-transport properties. The underlying mechanisms are identified by comparing the experimental results to a magnetic pinning model.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2019

Long-range triplet proximity effect in multiply connected ferromagnet-superconductor hybrids

Applying the linearized Usadel equations, we consider the nucleation of superconductivity in multiply connected mesoscopic superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F) hybrids such as a thin superconducting ring on a ferromagnet with a uniform in-plane magnetization M and a spin-active S/F interface. We demonstrate that the exchange field in F provokes a switching between superconducting states with different vorticities which may increase the critical temperature ( Tc ) of the superconductor in a magnetic field. We study the interplay between oscillations in Tc due to the Little--Parks effect and oscillations in Tc induced by the exchange field. Furthermore, we analyse the influence of long-range spin-triplet correlations on the switching between different vorticities.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2019

Nonuniform superconductivity and Josephson effect in conical ferromagnet

Using the Gorkov equations, we provide an exact solution for a one-dimensional model of superconductivity in the presence of a conical helicoidal exchange field. Due to the special type of symmetry of the system, the superconducting transition always occurs into a nonuniform superconducting phase (in contrast with the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state, which appears only at low temperatures). We directly demonstrate that the uniform superconducting state in our model carries a current and thus does not correspond to the ground state. We study in the framework of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes approach the properties of the Josephson junction with a conical ferromagnet as a weak link. In our numerical calculations, we do not use any approximations (such as, e.g., a quasiclassical approach), and we show a realization of an anomalous $ϕ_{0}$ junction (with a spontaneous phase difference $ϕ_{0}$ in the ground state). The spontaneous phase difference $ϕ_{0}$ strongly increases at high values of the exchange field near the borderline with a half-metal, and it exists also in the half-metal regime.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2019

Electronic structure of mesoscopic superconducting disk: Quasiparticle tunneling between the giant vortex core and disk edge

The electronic structure of the giant vortex states in a mesoscopic superconducting disk is studied in a dirty limit using the Usadel approach. The local density of states profiles are shown to be strongly affected by the effect of quasiparticle (QP) tunneling between the states localized in the vortex core and the ones bound to the sample edge. Decreasing temperature leads to a crossover between the edge-dominated and core-dominated regimes in the magnetic field dependence of the tunneling conductance. This crossover is discussed in the context of the efficiency of quasiparticle cooling by the magnetic field induced QP traps in various mesoscopic superconducting devices.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2018

Chirality-controlled spontaneous currents in spin-orbit coupled superconducting rings

At a superconductor interface with a ferromagnetic insulator (FI), the FI acts to induce a local exchange field within the S layer, which in the presence of spin-orbit interaction promotes a phase modulated superconducting state. Here we demonstrate that within a thin superconducting loop that is partially proximitized by a FI, spontaneous currents form with a magnetization-orientation-dependent chirality with sizable shifts in Little-Parks oscillations. Furthermore, the critical temperature of the loop is also magnetization-orientation-dependent and conversely, the superconducting transition itself may influence the magnetization direction. More generally, the superconducting region above the FI may serve as a phase battery and so offer a new device concept for superconducting spintronics.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2018

Temperature controlled FFLO instability in superconductor-ferromagnet hybrids

We show that a wide class of layered superconductor-ferromagnet (S/F) hybrids demonstrate the emergence of the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) phase well below the superconducting transition temperature. Decreasing the temperature one can switch the system from uniform to the FFLO state which is accompanied by the damping of the diamagnetic Meissner response down to zero and also by the sign change in the curvature of the current-velocity dependence. Our estimates show that an additional layer of the normal metal (N) covering the ferromagnet substantially soften the conditions required for the predicted FFLO instability and for existing S/F/N systems the temperature of the transition into the FFLO phase can reach several kelvins.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2015

First order $0$ - $π$ phase transitions in superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor trilayers

We study the thermodynamics of the diffusive SFS trilayer composed of thin superconductor (S) and ferromagnet (F) layers. On the basis the self-consistent solutions of nonlinear Usadel equations in the F and S layers we obtain the Ginzburg--Landau expansion and compute the condensation free energy and entropy of the $0$ (even) and $π$ (odd) order parameter configurations. The first order $0-π$ transition as a function of temperature $T$ occurs, which is responsible for a jump of the averaged magnetic field penetration depth $λ(T)$ recently observed on experiments [N.Pompeo, et. al., Phys. Rev. B 90, 064510 (2014)]. The generalized Ginzburg-Landau functional was proposed to describe SFS trilayer for arbitrary phase difference between the superconducting order parameters in the S layers. The temperature dependence of the SFS Josephson junction critical current demonstrates the strong anharmonicity of the corresponding current--phase relation in the vicinity of the $0-π$ transition. In rf SQUID, coexistence of stable and metastable $0$ and $π$ states provides integer and half--integer fluxoid configurations.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2014

Thermodynamic nature of the 0-PI quantum transition in superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor trilayers

In structures made up of alternating superconducting and ferromagnet layers (S/F/S heterostructures), it is known that the macroscopic quantum wavefunction of the ground state changes its phase difference across the F--layer from 0 to PI under certain temperature and geometrical conditions, whence the name "0-PI" for this crossover. We present here a joint experimental and theoretical demonstration that the "0-PI" is a true thermodynamic phase transition: microwave measurements of the temperature dependence of the London penetration depth in Nb/Pd_0.84Ni_0.16/Nb trilayers reveal a sudden, unusual decrease of the density of the superconducting condensate (square modulus of the macroscopic quantum wavefunction) with decreasing temperature, which is predicted by the theory here developed as a transition from the 0- to the PI-state. Our result for the jump of the amplitude of the order parameter is the first thermodynamic manifestation of such temperature-driven quantum transition.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2014

Stimulation of a Singlet Superconductivity in SFS Weak Links by Spin-Exchange Scattering of Cooper Pairs

Josephson junctions with a ferromagnetic metal weak link reveal a very strong decrease of the critical current compared to a normal metal weak link. We demonstrate that in the ballistic regime the presence of a small region with a non-collinear magnetization near the center of a ferromagnetic weak link restores the critical current inherent to the normal metal. The above effect can be stimulated by additional electrical bias of the magnetic gate which induces a local electron depletion of ferromagnetic barrier. The underlying physics of the effect is the interference phenomena due to the magnetic scattering of the Cooper pair, which reverses its total momentum in the ferromagnet and thus compensates the phase gain before and after the spin-reversed scattering. In contrast with the widely discussed triplet long ranged proximity effect we elucidate a new singlet long ranged proximity effect. This phenomenon opens a way to easily control the properties of SFS junctions and inversely to manipulate the magnetic moment via the Josephson current.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2012

Interference phenomena and long - range proximity effect in clean superconductor -- ferromagnet systems

We study peculiarities of proximity effect in clean superconductor -- ferromagnet structures caused by either spatial or momentum dependence of the exchange field. Even a small modulation of the exchange field along the quasiparticle trajectories is shown to provide a long range contribution to the supercurrent due to the specific interference of particle- and hole- like wave functions. The momentum dependence of the exchange field caused by the spin -- orbit interaction results in the long -- range superconducting correlations even in the absence of ferromagnetic domain structure and can explain the recent experiments on ferromagnetic nanowires.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2011

Abrikosov vortex escape from a columnar defect as a topological electronic transition in vortex core

We study microscopic scenario of vortex escape from a columnar defect under the influence of a transport current. For defect radii smaller than the superconducting coherence length the depinning process is shown to be a consequence of two subsequent topological electronic transitions in a trapped vortex core. The first transition at a critical current $j_L$ is associated with the opening of Fermi surface segments corresponding to the creation of a vortex--antivortex pair bound to the defect. The second transition at a certain current $j_d > j_L$ is caused by merging of different Fermi surface segments, which accompanies the formation of a freely moving vortex.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2011

New Cataclysmic Variable 1RXS J073346.0+261933 in Gemini

In course of the search for the optical identifications associated with ROSAT X-ray sources we have found a highly variable object with the very unusual long-term behavior, color indices and high X-ray-to-optical flux ratio. We report the archival photometric light curve from the Catalina Sky Survey, optical spectroscopy from RTT150 and time-resolved photometry from Astrotel-Caucasus telescope. The object appears to be the magnetic cataclysmic variable (polar) with orbital period of P=3.20 hr.

astro-ph.SR↗
arXiv2010

Josephson current and $π-$state in ferromagnet with embedded superconducting nanoparticles

On the basis of Usadel equations we investigate superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor (S/F/S) hybrid systems which consist of superconducting nanostructures (spheres, rods) embedded in ferromagnetic metal. The oscillations of the critical current of the S/F/S Josephson junctions with the thickness of ferromagnetic spacer between superconducting electrodes are studied. We demonstrate that the $π$ state can be realized in such structures despite of a dispersion of the distances between different parts of the electrodes. The transitions between 0 and $π$ states at some thickness of ferromagnetic spacer can be triggered by temperature variation.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2010

Vortex clusters and multiquanta flux lattices in thin films of anisotropic superconductors

The distinctive features of equilibrium vortex structures in thin films of anisotropic superconductors in tilted magnetic fields are studied for the limits of moderate and strong anisotropy. The energetically favorable shape of isolated vortex lines is found in the framework of two particular models describing these limiting cases: London theory with an anisotropic mass tensor and London-type model for a stack of Josephson--decoupled superconducting layers. The increase of the field tilting is shown to result in qualitative changes in the vortex--vortex interaction potential: the balance between long--range attractive and repulsive forces occurs to be responsible for a formation of a minimum of the interaction potential vs the intervortex distance. This minimum appears to exist only for a certain restricted range of the vortex tilting angles which shrinks with the decrease of the system anisotropy parameter. Tilted vortices with such unusual interaction potential form clusters with the size depending on the field tilting angle and film thickness or/and can arrange into multiquanta flux lattice. The magnetic flux through the unit cells of the corresponding flux line lattices equals to an integer number $M$ of flux quanta. Thus, the increase in the field tilting should be accompanied by the series of the phase transitions between the vortex lattices with different $M$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗