Vortex interactions in presence of a soft magnetic film

Abstract

We study theoretically the behavior of vortices in a thin film superconductor placed close to a soft magnetic film. It is shown that the field from the vortex induces a magnetization distribution in the soft magnetic film, thus modifying the fields and vortex interactions. We suggest that the interaction between two otherwise identical vortices is attractive at short distances, but repulsive at larger distances. This is in contrast to the case without the soft magnetic film, where the force is always repulsive.