Figure 1

Response of studied confined superconducting condensates to the magnetic field. (a) $250\mathrm{nm}\times 200\mathrm{nm}$ constant current topographic STM image of three selected islands. The superposed color-coded gapped area map at 0.8 T visualizes the superconducting regions in red, the normal state vortex cores appearing in dark blue. (b) Local tunneling conductance spectra $dI/dV(V)$ acquired at the periphery of the smallest crystal $N3$ at different magnetic fields. The spectra are presented normalized to unity at 50 nS (set point $I_0=250\mathrm{pA}$, $V_0=5\mathrm{mV}$) and shifted for clarity. The gapped area is hashed; the colors respect the rainbow pallet (see Supplemental Materials [15] for further details).Reuse & Permissions

Figure 2

Overall evolution of the confined condensates in the magnetic field (color-coded GA maps). The magnetic flux ${\Phi }_i$ crossing each island (in units of ${\Phi }_0$) and the winding factors $L_i$ are given for each value of the applied magnetic field (for the details of calculations of ${\Phi }_i$ and $L_i$ see Supplemental Materials [15]).Reuse & Permissions

Figure 3

Giant vortex configurations in the crystal $N3$. Bottom: Color-coded diagram of ZBC values vs magnetic field taken over a line crossing the island $N3$ center. Abrupt transitions separate the phases of different vorticity $L$. Top: ZBC maps of corresponding configurations. Dashed line: The scanning line along which the ZBC-field diagram was acquired.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 4

Shapes and profiles of confined vortex phases. Left panel: ZBC maps revealing the extension of the vortex cores in different situations. The locations characterized by a superconducting gap are intentionally saturated in black; the cores of individual $2\pi$ vortices appear as small bright spots (see the color bar). With the same contrast, the $L>2$ phases are revealed as extended regions. Right panel: ZBC profiles of different vortex configurations recorded along the lines presented in color in the ZBC map. From bottom to top: $L=1$ state—the profiles of single $2\pi$ vortices (dots) and their fits by the Ginzburg-Landau formula [25] (thin solid lines); $L=2$ state—two close vortex cores in the crystal $N2$ at 0.8 T appear separate (blue dots), at shorter distance (34 nm) the cores merge (crystal $N1$ at 0.6 T—red dots), and there is a bell-shaped profile of the $4\pi$ giant vortex core in $N3$ at 1.0 T (green dots); the $L=3$ and $L=4$ phases are discussed in the text. Horizontal dashed lines correspond to the ZBC in the normal state.Reuse & Permissions