Mechanism for flux guidance by micrometric antidot arrays in superconducting films

A study of magnetic flux penetration in a superconducting film patterned with arrays of micron-sized antidots (microholes) is reported. Magneto-optical imaging (MOI) of a YBa₂Cu₃Oₓ film shaped as a long strip with perpendicular antidot arrays revealed both strong guidance of flux and, at the same time, large perturbations of the overall flux penetration and flow of current. These results are compared with a numerical flux creep simulation of a thin superconductor with the same antidot pattern. To perform calculations on such a complex geometry, an efficient numerical scheme for handling the boundary conditions of the antidots and the nonlocal electrodynamics was developed. The simulations reproduce essentially all features of the MOI results. In addition, the numerical results give insight into all other key quantities (e.g., the electrical field), which become extremely large in the narrow channels connecting the antidots.