Field-Free Nucleation of Antivortices and Giant Vortices in Nonsuperconducting Materials.

Giant vortices with higher phase winding than 2π are usually energetically unfavorable, but geometric symmetry constraints on a superconductor in a magnetic field are known to stabilize such objects. Here, we show via microscopic calculations that giant vortices can appear in intrinsically nonsuperconducting materials, even without any applied magnetic field. The enabling mechanism is the proximity effect to a host superconductor where a current flows, and we also demonstrate that antivortices can appear in this setup. Our results open the possibility to study electrically controllable topological defects in unusual environments, which do not have to be exposed to magnetic fields or intrinsically superconducting, but instead display other types of order.

Non-constant geometric curvature for tailored spin-orbit coupling and chirality in superconductor-magnet heterostructures.

We show that tailoring the geometric curvature profile of magnets can be used for bespoke design of an effective non-relativistic spin-orbit coupling, which may be used to control proximity effects if the magnet is coupled to a superconductor. We consider proximity-coupled one-dimensional magnetic wires with variable curvatures, specifically three distinct shapes classified as J-, C-, and S-type. We demonstrate a chirality-dependent spin polarization of the superconducting correlations, and show the role of curvature in determining the ground state of mixed-chirality junctions. We speculate on how this may be implemented in novel device design, and include analysis of its usage in a spin-triplet SQUID.

Analytically determined topological phase diagram of the proximity-induced gap in diffusive n-terminal Josephson junctions.

Multiterminal Josephson junctions have recently been proposed as a route to artificially mimic topological matter with the distinct advantage that its properties can be controlled via the superconducting phase difference, giving rise to Weyl points in 4-terminal geometries. A key goal is to accurately determine when the system makes a transition from a gapped to non-gapped state as a function of the phase differences in the system, the latter effectively playing the role of quasiparticle momenta in conventional topological matter. We here determine the proximity gap phase diagram of diffusive n-terminal Josephson junctions (), both numerically and analytically, by identifying a class of solutions to the Usadel equation at zero energy in the full proximity effect regime. We present an analytical equation which provides the phase diagram for an arbitrary number of terminals n. After briefly demonstrating the validity of the analytical approach in the previously studied 2- and 3-terminal cases, we focus on the 4-terminal case and map out the regimes where the electronic excitations in the system are gapped and non-gapped, respectively, demonstrating also in this case full agreement between the analytical and numerical approach.

Controlling supercurrents and their spatial distribution in ferromagnets.

Spin-triplet Cooper pairs induced in ferromagnets form the centrepiece of the emerging field of superconducting spintronics. Usually the focus is on the spin-polarization of the triplets, potentially enabling low-dissipation magnetization switching. However, the magnetic texture which provides the fundamental mechanism for generating triplets also permits control over the spatial distribution of supercurrent. Here we demonstrate the tailoring of distinct supercurrent pathways in the ferromagnetic barrier of a Josephson junction. We combine micromagnetic simulations with three-dimensional supercurrent calculations to design a disk-shaped structure with a ferromagnetic vortex which induces two transport channels across the junction. By using superconducting quantum interferometry, we show the existence of two channels. Moreover, we show how the supercurrent can be controlled by moving the vortex with a magnetic field. This approach paves the way for supercurrent paths to be dynamically reconfigured in order to switch between different functionalities in the same device.

General solution of 2D and 3D superconducting quasiclassical systems: coalescing vortices and nanoisland geometries.

An extension of quasiclassical Keldysh-Usadel theory to higher spatial dimensions than one is crucial in order to describe physical phenomena like charge/spin Hall effects and topological excitations like vortices and skyrmions, none of which are captured in one-dimensional models. We here present a numerical finite element method which solves the non-linearized 2D and 3D quasiclassical Usadel equation relevant for the diffusive regime. We show the application of this on three model systems with non-trivial geometries: (i) a bottlenecked Josephson junction with external flux, (ii) a nanodisk ferromagnet deposited on top of a superconductor and (iii) superconducting islands in contact with a ferromagnet. In case (i), we demonstrate that one may control externally not only the geometrical array in which superconducting vortices arrange themselves, but also to cause coalescence and tune the number of vortices. In case (iii), we show that the supercurrent path can be tailored by incorporating magnetic elements in planar Josephson junctions which also lead to a strong modulation of the density of states. The finite element method presented herein paves the way for gaining insight in physical phenomena which have remained largely unexplored due to the complexity of solving the full quasiclassical equations in higher dimensions.

Microwave control of the superconducting proximity effect and minigap in magnetic and normal metals.

We demonstrate theoretically that microwave radiation applied to superconducting proximity structures controls the minigap and other spectral features in the density of states of normal and magnetic metals, respectively. Considering both a bilayer and Josephson junction geometry, we show that microwaves with frequency ω qualitatively alters the spectral properties of the system: inducing a series of resonances, controlling the minigap size Emg, and even replacing the minigap with a strong peak of quasiparticle accumulation at zero energy when ω = Emg. The interaction between light and Cooper pairs may thus open a route to active control of quantum coherent phenomena in superconducting proximity structures.