1999/08/17 by Raz Carmi, E. Polturak, Emil Polturak · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.stat-mech #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.60.7595
Manuscript and 4 figures
arxiv created 1999/08/17 · openalex publication_date 1999/09/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We describe an experimental search for spontaneous formation of flux lines during a rapid quench of thin YBa2Cu3O_7\ensuremath-\ensuremathδ films through Tc. This effect is expected according to the Kibble-Zurek mechanism of a creation of topological defects of the order parameter during a symmetry-breaking phase transition. Spontaneously formed vortices were previously observed in superfluid 3He, while a similar experiment in superfluid 4He gave negative results. Using a high-Tc superconducting quantum interference device, we measured both the magnetic flux in the sample during a quench with a sensitivity of 20 \ensuremathφ0/cm2, and the field noise which one would expect from flux lines pinned in the film. The sensitivity was sufficient to detect spontaneous flux at a level corresponding to 10^\ensuremath-3 of the prediction. Within our resolution, we saw no evidence for this effect.