Cutting of bent vortex lines

Abstract

One of the major problems in the application of type II superconductors is the appearance of resistivity in cases where a current-carrying specimen is in a longitudinal magnetic field. This is explained by the onset of flux-line cutting events, followed by cross-joining of the line parts. The calculation given here shows the amount of repulsive force and energy between two curved vortex lines and examines the general stability of the vortex-vortex system. First, the actual interaction potential between curved vortices is computed. It includes all electromagnetic and core overlap terms of interaction and self-interaction, and allows computation of the system energy under all curved vortex-line configurations. A computer program is used to find the form of lowest free energy. To do this, special trial functions are established to describe the three-dimensional form of the vortex-vortex system. In these functions parameters determine the qualitative and quantitative form. The asymptotic boundary conditions are built into the nature of the trial functions. The computer program now minimizes the free energy with respect to these parameters. The resulting repulsive energy and force are more than ten times less than the known results for straight flux lines, especially for small asymptotic cutting angles. There is no sharp maximum in the plot of repulsive force versus flux-line separation. A remarkable result is the loss of general stability below a separation distance of several London penetration depths, depending on the cutting angle and the Ginzburg-Landau parameter. The explanation lies in the local attraction of central sections of the vortices as a result of configurational adaptation. This explains the onset of resistance at small currents and small magnetic fields.