1] Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales, 1 ave. A. Fresnel, 91767 Palaiseau, France [2] Université Paris Sud, 91405 Orsay, France.
LPEM, ESPCI-CNRS-UPMC, 10 rue Vauquelin 75231 Paris, France.
Nat Nanotechnol. 2014 Sep;9(9):710-5. doi: 10.1038/nnano.2014.158. Epub 2014 Aug 17.
The problem of an ensemble of repulsive particles on a potential-energy landscape is common to many physical systems and has been studied in multiple artificial playgrounds. However, the latter usually involve fixed energy landscapes, thereby impeding in situ investigations of the particles' collective response to controlled changes in the landscape geometry. Here, we experimentally realize a system in which the geometry of the potential-energy landscape can be switched using temperature as the control knob. This realization is based on a high-temperature superconductor in which we engineer a nanoscale spatial modulation of the superconducting condensate. Depending on the temperature, the flux quanta induced by an applied magnetic field see either a geometrically frustrated energy landscape that favours an ice-like flux ordering, or an unfrustrated landscape that yields a periodic flux distribution. This effect is reflected in a dramatic change in the superconductor's magneto-transport. The thermal switching of the energy landscape geometry opens new opportunities for the study of ordering and reorganization in repulsive particle manifolds.
排斥粒子在势能景观上的集合问题在许多物理系统中都很常见，并且已经在多个人工游乐场中进行了研究。然而，后者通常涉及固定的能量景观，从而阻碍了对粒子对景观几何形状的受控变化的集体响应的现场研究。在这里，我们通过使用温度作为控制旋钮来实验实现可以切换势能景观几何形状的系统。这种实现基于高温超导体，我们在其中设计了超导冷凝物的纳米级空间调制。根据温度，由施加磁场感应的磁通量子会看到一个几何上受挫的能量景观，有利于冰状磁通有序，或者是一个未受挫的景观，产生周期性的磁通分布。这种效应反映在超导体的磁输运中发生了剧烈的变化。能量景观几何形状的热切换为研究排斥粒子系综中的有序化和重组开辟了新的机会。
