Predicted field-dependent increase of critical currents in asymmetric superconducting nanocircuits

TL;DR

This paper predicts that in asymmetric superconducting nanocircuits with turns, applying a perpendicular magnetic field can increase the critical current by counteracting current crowding effects at inner corners.

Contribution

It introduces a novel field-dependent enhancement of critical currents in asymmetric superconducting nanostructures using analytic and simulation methods.

Findings

Critical current can be increased by applying a perpendicular magnetic field.

Vortices nucleate at inner corners where current crowding occurs.

Field-induced current counteracts applied current at turns.

Abstract

The critical current of a thin superconducting strip of width $W$ much larger than the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length $\xi$ but much smaller than the Pearl length $\Lambda = 2 \lambda^2/d$ is maximized when the strip is straight with defect-free edges. When a perpendicular magnetic field is applied to a long straight strip, the critical current initially decreases linearly with $H$ but then decreases more slowly with $H$ when vortices or antivortices are forced into the strip. However, in a superconducting strip containing sharp 90-degree or 180-degree turns, the zero-field critical current at H=0 is reduced because vortices or antivortices are preferentially nucleated at the inner corners of the turns, where current crowding occurs. Using both analytic London-model calculations and time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau simulations, we predict that in such asymmetric strips the resulting critical current can be {\it increased} by applying a perpendicular magnetic field that induces a current-density contribution opposing the applied current density at the inner corners. This effect should apply to all turns that bend in the same direction.