Vortex configurations in mesoscopic superconducting triangles: Finite-size and shape effects

¹  Department of Physics, University of Antwerpen - Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium, EU
²  Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences - Chernogolovka 142432, Russia
³  School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester - Manchester M13 9PL, UK, EU

Corresponding authors: Vyacheslav.Misko@ua.ac.be francois.peeters@ua.ac.be

Received: 4 April 2008
Accepted: 12 May 2008

Abstract

Triangular-shaped mesoscopic superconductors are consistent with the symmetry of the Abrikosov vortex lattice resulting in a high stability of vortex patterns for commensurate vorticities. However, for non-commensurate vorticities, vortex configurations in triangles are not compatible with the sample shape. Here we present the first direct observation of vortex configurations in μm-sized niobium triangles using the Bitter decoration technique, and we analyze the vortex states in triangles by analytically solving the London equations and performing molecular-dynamics simulations. We found that filling rules with increasing vorticity can be formulated for triangles in a similar way as for mesoscopic disks where vortices form shells.