PT Journal
AU Bulaevskii, LN
   Graf, MJ
   Batista, CD
   Kogan, VG
TI Vortex-induced dissipation in narrow current-biased thin-film superconducting strips
SO Phys. Rev. B
JI Phys. Rev. B
PY 2011
BP 9
VL 83
IS 14
AB A vortex crossing a thin-film superconducting strip from one edge to the other, perpendicular to the bias current, is the dominant mechanism of dissipation for films of thickness d on the order of the coherence length ξ and of width w much narrower than the Pearl length Λâ‰<ab>wâ‰<ab>ξ. At high bias currents I*<I<Ic the heat released by the crossing of a single vortex suffices to create a belt-like normal-state region across the strip, resulting in a detectable voltage pulse. Here Ic is the critical current at which the energy barrier vanishes for a single vortex crossing. The belt forms along the vortex path and causes a transition of the entire strip into the normal state. We estimate I* to be roughly Ic/3. Furthermore, we argue that such “hot” vortex crossings are the origin of dark counts in photon detectors, which operate in the regime of metastable superconductivity at currents between I* and Ic. We estimate the rate of vortex crossings and compare it with recent experimental data for dark counts. For currents below I*, that is, in the stable superconducting but resistive regime, we estimate the amplitude and duration of voltage pulses induced by a single vortex crossing.
ER