Why are flux avalanches deflected by a metallic layer?

Sudden avalanches of magnetic flux bursting into a superconducting sample are deflected from their trajectories when they encounter a conductive layer deposited on top of the superconductor. Remarkably, in some cases the flux is totally excluded from the area covered by the conductive layer. Even if this phenomenon has been known for a few years, there is currently no theoretical model describing it. Moreover, the question whether the deflection would also be observed for a single vortex entering the region covered by a metallic layer is still unanswered.

In this work we use the magneto-optical imaging (MOI) technique, based on the Faraday effect, to show that a conductive layer (Cu) can repel flux avalanches triggered in an underlying superconducting film (Nb). We present a simple classical model that accounts for the deflection of a single vortex and considers a magnetic monopole approaching a semi-infinite conductive plane. This model suggests the important role played in the avalanche deflection by electromagnetic braking, arising from the eddy currents induced by the moving vortex in the metal. Moreover, we have found a decrease of the vortex damping coefficient due to the metallic sheet at large vortex velocities, correcting early theoretical descriptions where a linear behaviour was proposed.