Linear Response of Thin Superconductors in Perpendicular Magnetic Fields: An Asymptotic Analysis

TL;DR

This paper provides an analytical asymptotic analysis of the linear electromagnetic response of thin superconductors in perpendicular magnetic fields, revealing edge effects, current propagation velocities, and relaxation dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a matched asymptotic expansion method to solve the response problem, extending previous numerical work and analyzing both field jumps and ac responses in thin superconductors.

Findings

Current propagates from edges at constant velocity after a field jump

Perpendicular magnetic field has a weak logarithmic singularity at edges

Exponential decay of current density relaxation with specific time constant

Abstract

The linear response of a thin superconducting strip subjected to an applied perpendicular time-dependent magnetic field is treated analytically using the method of matched asymptotic expansions. The calculation of the induced current density is divided into two parts: an ``outer'' problem, in the middle of the strip, which can be solved using conformal mapping; and an ``inner'' problem near each of the two edges, which can be solved using the Wiener-Hopf method. The inner and outer solutions are matched together to produce a solution which is uniformly valid across the entire strip, in the limit that the effective screening length $\lambda_{\rm eff}$ is small compared to the strip width $2a$. From the current density it is shown that the perpendicular component of the magnetic field inside the strip has a weak logarithmic singularity at the edges of the strip. The linear Ohmic response, which would be realized in a type-II superconductor in the flux-flow regime, is calculated for both a sudden jump in the magnetic field and for an ac magnetic field. After a jump in the field the current propagates in from the edges at a constant velocity $v=0.772 D/d$ (with $D$ the diffusion constant and $d$ the film thickness), rather than diffusively, as it would for a thick sample. The ac current density and the high frequency ac magnetization are also calculated. The long time relaxation of the current density after a jump in the field is found to decay exponentially with a time constant $\tau_{0} = 0.255 ad/D$. The method is extended to treat the response of thin superconducting disks, and thin strips with an applied current. There is generally excellent agreement between the results of the asymptotic analysis and the recent numerical calculations by E. H. Brandt [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 49}, 9024; {\bf 50}, 4034 (1994)].