Topological transitions in superconductor nanomembranes under a strong transport current

Abstract

The topological defects, vortices in bulk superconductors (SCs) and phase slips in low-dimensional SCs are known to lead to the occurrence of a finite resistance. We report on a topological transition between the both types of topological defects under a strong transport current in an open SC nanotube with a submicron-scale inhomogeneity of the normal-to-the-surface component of the applied magnetic field. When the magnetic field is orthogonal to the axis of the nanotube, which carries the transport current in the azimuthal direction, the phase-slip regime is characterized by the vortex/antivortex lifetime ∼ 10−14 s versus the vortex lifetime ∼ 10−11 s for vortex chains in the half-tubes, and the induced voltage shows a pulse as a function of the magnetic field. The topological transition between the vortex-chain and phase-slip regimes determines the magnetic-field–voltage and current–voltage characteristics of curved SC nanomembranes to pursue high-performance applications in advanced electronics and quantum computing.