Nematically Templated Vortex Lattices in Superconducting FeSe

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 23; no. 7; pp. 2822 - 2830
• Main Authors: Song, Sang Yong, Hua, Chengyun, Bell, Luke, Ko, Wonhee, Fangohr, Hans, Yan, Jiaqiang, Halász, Gábor B., Dumitrescu, Eugene F., Lawrie, Benjamin J., Maksymovych, Petro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 12.04.2023
• Subjects: CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; FeSe; Langevin dynamics simulation; Letter; scanning tunneling microscope; templated vortex lattice; twin boundary; vortex; FeSe; scanning tunneling microscope; Langevin dynamics simulation; vortex; templated vortex lattice; twin boundary
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c00125

New pathways to controlling the morphology of superconducting vortex latticesand their subsequent dynamicsare required to guide and scale vortex world-lines into a computing platform. We have found that the nematic twin boundaries align superconducting vortices in the adjacent terraces due to the incommensurate potential between vortices surrounding twin boundaries and those trapped within them. With the varying density and morphology of twin boundaries, the vortex lattice assumes several distinct structural phases, including square, regular, and irregular one-dimensional lattices. Through concomitant analysis of vortex lattice models, we have inferred the characteristic energetics of the twin boundary potential and furthermore predicted the existence of geometric size effects as a function of increasing confinement by the twin boundaries. These findings extend the ideas of directed control over vortex lattices to intrinsic topological defects and their self-organized networks, which have direct implications for the future design and control of strain-based topological quantum computing architectures.