Vortex matching effect in engineered thin films of NbN

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates vortex matching effects in NbN thin films with antidot arrays, highlighting the potential to study vortex physics at nanometer scales due to NbN's small coherence length and minimal pinning.

Contribution

The study reveals vortex matching effects in NbN thin films with engineered antidot arrays, emphasizing the material's suitability for nanoscale vortex physics investigations.

Findings

Vortex matching effects observed in NbN antidot arrays

Negligible hysteresis indicates minimal residual pinning

Potential to explore vortex physics at nanometer scales

Abstract

We report robust vortex matching effects in antidot arrays fabricated on thin films of NbN. The near absence of hysteresis between field sweep directions indicates a negligible residual pinning in the host thin film. Owing to the very small coherence length of NbN thin films ($\xi < 5 nm$), the observations suggests the possibility of probing physics of vortices at true nanometer length scales in suitably fabricated structures.