Issue |
EPL
Volume 85, Number 2, January 2009
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 27004 | |
Number of page(s) | 5 | |
Section | Condensed Matter: Electronic Structure, Electrical, Magnetic and Optical Properties | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/85/27004 | |
Published online | 30 January 2009 |
Observation of surface superconductivity and direct vortex imaging of a Pb thin island with a scanning tunneling microscope
1
Institute of Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences - Beijing 100190, China
2
Department of Physics, Tsinghua University - Beijing 100084, China
Corresponding authors: xcma@aphy.iphy.ac.cn qkxue@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
Received:
7
November
2008
Accepted:
17
December
2008
We report on a scanning tunneling spectroscopy study on vortex imaging and surface superconductivity of a thin type-II superconducting Pb island, which is epitaxially grown on Si substrate and 12 atomic monolayers in thickness. The field dependence of vortex lattice evolution reveals the existence of the surface superconducting layer, which is parallel to the magnetic field in the periphery of the island and disappears above a critical field of 3077 G. The ratio of 1.57 gives a further support for the surface superconductivity.
PACS: 74.25.Op – Mixed states, critical fields, and surface sheaths / 74.25.Qt – Vortex lattices, flux pinning, flux creep / 68.37.Ef – Scanning tunneling microscopy (including chemistry induced with STM)
© EPLA, 2009
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