Vortex creep at very low temperatures in single crystals of the extreme type-II superconductor Rh9In4S4
Date
2017-04-01
Authors
Herrera, Edwin
Benito-Llorens, José
Kaluarachchi, Udhara
Bud'ko, Serguei
Canfield, Paul
Guillamón, Isabel
Suderow, Hermann
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Canfield, Paul
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Ames National Laboratory
Abstract
We image vortex creep at very low temperatures using scanning tunneling microscopy in the superconductor Rh9In4S4 (Tc=2.25K). We measure the superconducting gap of Rh9In4S4, finding Δ≈0.33meV, and image a hexagonal vortex lattice up to close to Hc2, observing slow vortex creep at temperatures as low as 150 mK. We estimate thermal and quantum barriers for vortex motion and show that thermal fluctuations likely cause vortex creep, in spite of being at temperatures T/Tc