Intermittently Flowing Rivers of Quantized Magnetic Flux

Abstract

Recent experiments and realistic flux-gradient-driven computer simulations provide evidence of plastic flow of flux lines in a superconductor. The striking videos of the onset of vortex motion vividly illustrate the existence of flowing "rivers" of quantized magnetic flux that intermittently form, freeze, and reappear at different locations in the sample. These rivers flow around "islands" (or domains) of flux lines which are temporarily trapped by the pinning sites. The shape and size of these temporarily frozen islands abruptly change over time with every loading-unloading cycle. Videos of the phenomena are available at: http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~nori/ (theory).