Observation of Magnetic Flux Generated Spontaneously During a Rapid Quench of Superconducting Films

2003/04/16 by Ariel Maniv, A. Maniv, E. Polturak +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.91.197001

arxiv created 2003/04/16 · openalex publication_date 2003/11/03 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

We report observations of spontaneous formation of magnetic flux lines during a rapid quench of YBa₂Cu₃O_7\ensuremath-\ensuremathδ films through T_c. This effect is predicted according to the Kibble-Zurek mechanism of creation of topological defects of the order parameter during a symmetry-breaking phase transition. Our previous experiment, at a quench rate of 20 K/s, gave null results. In the present experiment, the quench rate was increased to >10⁸ K/s. The amount of spontaneous flux increases weakly with the cooling rate.

Citations

• Nonappearance of Vortices in Fast Mechanical Expansions of Liquid4Hethrough the Lambda Transition
• Topology of cosmic domains and strings
• Search for spontaneous nucleation of magnetic flux during rapid cooling ofYBa2Cu3O7−δfilms throughTc