Determining the vortex tilt relative to a superconductor surface

It is of interest to determine the exit angle of a vortex from a superconductor surface, since this affects the intervortex interactions and their consequences. Two ways to determine this angle are to image the vortex magnetic fields above the surface, or the vortex core shape at the surface. In this work we evaluate the field h(x,y,z) above a flat superconducting surface x,y and the currents J(x,y) at that surface for a straight vortex tilted relative to the normal to the surface, for both the isotropic and anisotropic cases. In principle, these results can be used to determine the vortex exit tilt angle from analyses of magnetic field imaging or density of states data. Disciplines Condensed Matter Physics | Materials Science and Engineering This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ameslab_manuscripts/71 PHYSICAL REVIEW B 96, 174516 (2017) Determining the vortex tilt relative to a superconductor surface V. G. Kogan Ames Laboratory DOE and Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA J. R. Kirtley Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA (Received 16 June 2017; revised manuscript received 12 November 2017; published 20 November 2017) It is of interest to determine the exit angle of a vortex from a superconductor surface, since this affects the intervortex interactions and their consequences. Two ways to determine this angle are to image the vortex magnetic fields above the surface, or the vortex core shape at the surface. In this work we evaluate the field h(x,y,z) above a flat superconducting surface x,y and the currents J(x,y) at that surface for a straight vortex tilted relative to the normal to the surface, for both the isotropic and anisotropic cases. In principle, these results can be used to determine the vortex exit tilt angle from analyses of magnetic field imaging or density of states data. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.96.174516