Guided Vortex Motion and Vortex Ratchets in Nanostructured Superconductors

In type II superconductors, an external magnetic field can partially penetrate into the superconducting phase in the form of magnetic flux lines or vortices. The repulsive interaction between vortices makes them to arrange in a triangular lattice, known as Abrikosov vortex lattice. This periodic vortex distribution is very fragile and can be easily distorted by introducing pinning centers such as local alterations of the superconducting condensate density. The dominant role of the vortex-pinning site interaction not only permits to control the static vortex patterns and to enhance the maximum dissipationless current sustainable by the superconducting material but also allows one to gain control on the dynamics of vortices. Among the ultimate motivations behind the manipulation of the vortex motion are the better performance of superconductor-based devices by reducing the noise in superconducting quantum interference-based systems, development of superconducting terahertz emitters, reversible manipulation of local field distribution through flux lenses, or even providing a way to predefine the optical transmission through the system. In this chapter, we discuss two relevant mechanisms used in most envisaged fluxonics devices, namely the guidance of vortices through predefined paths and the rectification of the average vortex motion. The former can be achieved with any sort of confinement potential such as local depletion of the order parameter or local enhancements of the current density. In contrast, rectification effects result from the lack of inversion symmetry of the pinning landscape which tends to favor the vortex flow in one particular direction. We also discuss a new route for further flexibility and tunability of these fluxonics components by introducing ferromagnetic pinning centers interacting with vortices via their magnetic stray field.