Magnetic Flux Avalanches in Superconducting Films with Mesoscopic Artificial Patterns

This article examines the practical problem of thermally driven high-speed flux avalanches occurring in superconducting thin films with mesoscopic artificial patterns. The thin films are synthesized with artificial pins in the form of sub-micrometric antidots (ADs). The article first provides an overview of magnetic flux avalanches in superconductors, with particular emphasis on thermally driven avalanches, before discussing the occurrence and morphology of flux avalanches in superconducting thin films comprised of AD arrays. It analyses the influence of lattice symmetry and different AD geometries on the guidance and consequently the branching of flux avalanches. It also explores how artificial pinning centers inserted in superconducting films affect vortex dynamics.