Quantum Interference by Vortex Supercurrents

Abstract

We analyze the origin of the parabolic background of magnetoresistance oscillations measured in finite-width superconducting mesoscopic rings with input and output stubs and in patterned films. The transmission model explaining the sinusoidal oscillation of magnetoresistance is extended to address the parabolic background as a function of the magnetic field. Apart from the interference mechanism activated by the ring, pinned superconducting vortices as topological defects introduce a further interference-based distribution of supercurrents that affects, in turn, the voltmeter-sensed quasiparticles. The onset of vortices changes the topology of the superconducting state in a mesoscopic ring in a such a way that the full magnetoresistance dynamics can be interpreted owing to the interference of the constituents of the order parameter induced by both the ring with its doubly-connected topology and the vortex lattice in it.