Magneto-optical measurements of mesoscopic Nb superconducting structures using a ferromagnetic metal indicator layer

Abstract

Imaging local magnetic fields produced by nano- and micrometer-scale superconductors has become a vital tool that can not only reveal crucial information on the vortex dynamics and order parameters of the superconducting materials but also visualize the working mechanism of superconducting devices made for quantum information. Here, we performed measurements of the magnetic field distributions of mesoscopic superconducting structures with various geometries by combining a thin ferromagnetic metal layer as a magneto-optical sensing element that responds to the environmental magnetic fields and a custom-made sensitive Sagnac interferometer. The sensitivity of the technique enables the observation of magnetic flux jumps due to individual vortex entries into nanostructured superconductors. In addition, with the control of incident power at a focused laser spot, we induce thermally driven movement of vortices that leaves a trace of a microscopic optical heating pattern.