2024/11/18 by Sang Yong Song, Chengyun Hua, Song, Sang Yong +11 · 1 voice
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Iron-based superconductors research #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Rare-earth and actinide compounds
paper · pdf · doi:10.1039/d5nr04204f
openalex publication_date 2026/01/01 · openalex created_date 2026/02/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Precise control of superconducting vortices is crucial for studying vortex dynamics and vortex braiding. We propose a new method to pull vortex lines in the layered superconductor FeSe using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip. Weak contact of the STM tip with the FeSe surface locally reduces the superconducting gap, thereby creating a tunable vortex pinning potential on the nanometer scale. This enables controlled vortex line deformation even in dense vortex lattices. Analytical modeling reveals that the deformation strength scales logarithmically with conductance and depends on tip geometry. Our findings point to local strain-induced gap suppression as the mechanism for STM-mediated vortex manipulation, providing a fundamental insight relevant to vortex behavior in the context of quantum information studies.