Selected Applications
attoAFM/CFM
Quantitative Nanoscale Vortex-Imaging of Superconductors
Understanding the microscopic mechanisms of superconductivity could be greatly facilitated
by non-invasive tools that allow for quantitative imaging with nanometric resolution over a
large range of temperatures and high magnetic fields. Based on the attoAFM/CFM, the group
of Patrick Maletinsky (Univ. of Basel) reports on cryogenic measurements using NV center
magnetometry. Their technique allows to extract quantitative data on the local magnetic
field of individual superconducting vortices in YBCO with high sensitivity and spatial res-
olution. By determining the local London penetration depth, they find that the so called
Pearl-vortex model explains the data much better and allows for fitting of additional parame-
ters than the standard monopole model. Their experiments constitute an impressive example
for how far the practical use of the NV center based magnetometry tools has already evolved.
Images courtesy of P. Maletinsky, University of Basel, CH; for more details, see L. Thiel et al., “Quantitative nanoscale vortex imaging
using a cryogenic quantum magnetometer”, Nature Nanotechnology (2016), doi:10.1038/nnano.2016.63