Critical Current Density,Vortex Pinning,and Phase Diagram in the NaCl-Type Superconductors InTe_(1-x)Se_(x)(x=0,0.1,0.2)

Research of vortex properties in type-Ⅱsuperconductors is of great importance for potential applications and fundamental physics.Here,we present a comprehensive study of the critical current density Jc,vortex pinning,and phase diagram of Na Cl-type In Te_(1-x)Se_(x)(x=0,0.1,0.2)superconductors synthesized by high-pressure technique.Our studies reveal that the values of Jc calculated by the Bean model exceed 10^(4)A/cm^(2)in the In Te_(1-x)Se_(x)system,signifying good potential for applications.The magnetic hysteresis loops(MHLs)show an asymmetric characteristic at various degrees,which is associated with the surface barrier.Intriguingly,a rare phenomenon in which the second magnetization peak in the MHLs occurs only in the field-descending branch is detected in In Te_(0.9)Se_(0.1).Such an anomalous behavior has not been observed before and can be described by considering the respective roles of the surface barrier and bulk pinning in the field-ascending and field-descending branches.By analyzing the pinning force density versus reduced field,the pinning mechanisms are studied in detail in the framework of the Dew-Hughes model.Finally,combining the results of resistivity and magnetization measurements,the vortex phase diagrams are constructed and discussed.

Flux pinning evolution in multilayer Pb/Ge/Pb/Ge/Pb superconducting systems

Multicomponent superconductors exhibit nontrivial vortex behaviors due to the various vortex–vortex interactions,including the competing one in the recently proposed type-1.5 superconductor.However,potential candidate that can be used to study the multicomponent superconductivity is rare.Here,we prepared an artificial superconducting multilayer to act as an alternative approach to study multicomponent superconductivity.The additional repulsive length and the coupling strength among superconducting films were regulated by changing the thickness of the insulting layer.The magnetization measurements were performed to clarify the effect of the competition between the repulsive vortex interactions on the macroscopic superconductivity.The vortex phase diagram and the optimum critical current density have been determined.Furthermore,a second magnetization effect is observed,and is attributed to the upper layer,which provides the weak pinning sites to localize the flux lines.The pinning behaviors switches to the mixed type with the increase of the insulting layer thicknesses.Our results open a new perspective to the study and related applications of the multilayer superconducting systems.

Propagation and Pinning of Travelling Wave for Nagumo Type Equation

In this paper, we study the propagation and its failure to propagate (pinning) of a travelling wave in a Nagumo type equation, an equation that describes impulse propagation in nerve axons that also models population growth with Allee effect. An analytical solution is derived for the traveling wave and the work is extended to a discrete formulation with a piecewise linear reaction function. We propose an operator splitting numerical scheme to solve the equation and demonstrate that the wave either propagates or gets pinned based on how the spatial mesh is chosen.

ADAPTIVE PINNING SYNCHRONIZATION OF COUPLED NEURAL NETWORKS WITH MIXED DELAYS AND VECTOR-FORM STOCHASTIC PERTURBATIONS

In this article, we consider the global chaotic synchronization of general cou- pled neural networks, in which subsystems have both discrete and distributed delays. Stochastic perturbations between subsystems are also considered. On the basis of two sim- ple adaptive pinning feedback control schemes, Lyapunov functional method, and stochas- tic analysis approach, several sufficient conditions are developed to guarantee global syn- chronization of the coupled neural networks with two kinds of delay couplings, even if only partial states of the nodes are coupled. The outer-coupling matrices may be symmetric or asymmetric. Unlike existing results that an isolate node is introduced as the pinning target, we pin to help the network realizing synchronization without introducing any iso- late node when the network is not synchronized. As a by product, sufficient conditions under which the network realizes synchronization without control are derived. Numerical simulations confirm the effectiveness of the obtained results.

Slow Vortex Creep Induced by Strong Grain Boundary Pinning in Advanced Ba122 Superconducting Tapes

We report the temperature, magnetic field and time dependences of magnetization in advanced Ba122 superconducting tapes. The sample exhibits peculiar vortex creep behavior. Below 10 K, the normalized magnetization relaxation rate S = d ln(-M)/d ln(t) shows a temperature-insensitive plateau with a value comparable to that of low-temperature superconductors, which can be explained within the framework of collective creep theory. It then enters into a second collective creep regime when the temperature increases. Interestingly, the relaxation rate below 20 K tends to reach saturation with increasing the field. However, it changes to a power law dependence on the field at a higher temperature. A vortex phase diagram composed of the collective and the plastic creep regions is shown. Benefiting from the strong grain boundary pinning, the advanced Bal22 superconducting tape has potential to be applied not only in liquid helium but also in liquid hydrogen or at temperatures accessible with cryocoolers.

Pinning impulsive synchronization of stochastic delayed coupled networks

In this paper, the pinning synchronization problem of stochastic delayed complex network （SDCN） is investigated by using a novel hybrid pinning controller. The proposed hybrid pinning controller is composed of adaptive controller and impulsive controller, where the two controllers are both added to a fraction of nodes in the network. Using the Lyapunov stability theory and the novel hybrid pinning controller, some sufficient conditions are derived for the exponential synchronization of such dynamical networks in mean square. Two numerical simulation examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The simulation results show that the proposed control scheme has a fast convergence rate compared with the conventional adaptive pinning method.

Pinning synchronization of time-varying delay coupled complex networks with time-varying delayed dynamical nodes

This paper deals with the pinning synchronization of nonlinearly coupled complex networks with time-varying coupling delays and time-varying delays in the dynamical nodes.We control a part of the nodes of the complex networks by using adaptive feedback controllers and adjusting the time-varying coupling strengths.Based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii stability theory for functional differential equations and a linear matrix inequality（LMI）,some sufficient conditions for the synchronization are derived.A numerical simulation example is also provided to verify the correctness and the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Biomass-derived carbon doping to enhance the current carrying capacity and flux pinning of an isotopic Mg^(11)B_(2)superconductor

Low activation isotopic boron(11B)based magnesium diboride(Mg^(11)B_(2))superconductors doped with biomass-derived activated carbon were synthesized using11B and magnesium powder via solid-state reaction.The effect of carbon doping on the lattice structure and superconducting properties of Mg^(11)B_(2)bulks were evaluated using X-ray powder diffraction,high resolution transmission electron microscopy,scanning electron microscopy and magnetization measurements.Precise refinement of structural parameters indicates successful substitution of carbon in Mg^(11)B_(2)bulks.The critical current density(Jc)of carbon doped Mg^(11)B_(2)synthesized at 650℃was enhanced more than two times compared with the pure Mg^(11)B_(2)bulk.Similar improvement was observed for the Mg^(11)B_(2)bulks heat-treated at 800℃.This enhancement is due to successful substitution of biomass-derived carbon with high surface area into Mg^(11)B_(2)lattice.The flux pinning mechanism of pure and doped Mg^(11)B_(2)bulks were investigated using the Dew-Hughes model.This study provides information regarding enhancement of the Jc of low activation Mg^(11)B_(2)superconductors suitable for next-generation fusion magnets.

Pinning energies of organic semiconductors in high-efficiency organic solar cells

With the emergence of new materials for high-efficiency organic solar cells(OSCs),understanding and finetuning the interface energetics become increasingly important.Precise determination of the so-called pinning energies,one of the critical characteristics of the material to predict the energy level alignment(ELA)at either electrode/organic or organic/organic interfaces,are urgently needed for the new materials.Here,pinning energies of a wide variety of newly developed donors and nonfullerene acceptors(NFAs)are measured through ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy.The positive pinning energies of the studied donors and the negative pinning energies of NFAs are in the same energy range of 4.3−4.6 eV,which follows the design rules developed for fullerene-based OSCs.The ELA for metal/organic and inorganic/organic interfaces follows the predicted behavior for all of the materials studied.For organic-organic heterojunctions where both the donor and the NFA feature strong intramolecular charge transfer,the pinning energies often underestimate the experimentally obtained interface vacuum level shift,which has consequences for OSC device performance.

Exponential synchronization of coupled memristive neural networks via pinning control

This paper is concerned with the exponential synchronization problem of coupled memristive neural networks. In contrast to general neural networks, memristive neural networks exhibit state-dependent switching behaviors due to the physical properties of memristors. Under a mild topology condition, it is proved that a small fraction of controlled sub- systems can efficiently synchronize the coupled systems. The pinned subsystems are identified via a search algorithm. Moreover, the information exchange network needs not to be undirected or strongly connected. Finally, two numerical simulations are performed to verify the usefulness and effectiveness of our results.

Novel pinning control strategies for synchronisation of complex networks with nonlinear coupling dynamics

This paper considers the global stability of controlling an uncertain complex network to a homogeneous trajectory of the uncoupled system by a local pinning control strategy. Several sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee the network synchronisation by investigating the relationship among pinning synchronisation, network topology, and coupling strength. Also, some fundamental and yet challenging problems in the pinning control of complex networks are discussed： （1） what nodes should be selected as pinned candidates？ （2） How many nodes are needed to be pinned for a fixed coupling strength？ Furthermore, an adaptive pinning control scheme is developed. In order to achieve synchronisation of an uncertain complex network, the adaptive tuning strategy of either the coupling strength or the control gain is utilised. As an illustrative example, a network with the Lorenz system as node self-dynamics is simulated to verify the efficacy of theoretical results.

Multiple reversals of vortex ratchet effects in a superconducting strip with inclined dynamic pinning landscape

Using time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau formalism,we investigate the multiple reversals of ratchet effects in an unpatterned superconducting strip by the tilted dynamic pinning potential.In the case of collinear sliding potential and Lorentz force,vortices are always confined in the channels induced by sliding potential.However,due to the inclination angle of sliding pinning potential with respect to the Lorentz force,vortices could be driven out of the channels,and unexpected results with multiple reversals of vortex rectifications are observed.The mechanism of multiple reversals of vortex rectifications is explored by analyzing different vortex motion scenarios with increasing ac current amplitudes.The multiple reversals of transverse and longitudinal ratchet effects can be highly controlled by ac amplitude and dynamic pinning velocity.What's more,at certain large current the ratchet effect reaches strongest within a wide range of pinning sliding velocity.

Depinning Line of High-T_(c) Superconductor HgBa_(2)CuO_(4+x)

Mechanical dissipation of high-T_(c) superconductor compound HgBa_(2)CuO_(4+x) as a function of temperature was measured with the vibrating reed technique.The depinning line determined from the peak temperature of internal friction was found to be higher than that of Bi-based sample but lower than that of Y-based one.

Superconducting anisotropy and vortex pinning in CaKFe_(4)As_(4) and KCa_(2)Fe_(4)As4F_(2)

The vortex pinning determining the current carrying capacity of a superconductor is an important property to the applications of superconducting materials.For layered superconductors,the vortex pinning can be enhanced by a strong interlayer interaction in accompany with a suppression of superconducting anisotropy,which remains to be investigated in iron based superconductors(FeSCs)with the layered structure.Here,based on the transport and magnetic torque measurements,we experimentally investigate the vortex pinning in two bilayer FeSCs,CaKFe_(4)As_(4)(Fe1144)and KCa_(2)Fe_(4)As4F_(2)(Fe12442),and compare their superconducting anisotropyγ.While the anisotropyγ≈3 for Fe1144 is much smaller thanγ≈15 in Fe12442 around Tc,a higher flux pinning energy as evidenced by a higher critical current density is found in Fe1144,as compared with the case of Fe12442.In combination with the literature data of Ba_(0.72)K_(0.28)Fe2As_(2) and Nd Fe As_(O0.82)F_(0.18),we reveal an anti-correlation between the pinning energy and the superconducting anisotropy in these Fe SCs.Our results thus suggest that the interlayer interaction can not be neglected when considering the vortex pinning in Fe SCs.

On Synchronization of Pinning-Controlled Networks with Reducible and Asymmetric Coupling Matrix

This paper investigates the synchronization of directed networks whose coupling matrices are reducible and asymmetrical by pinning-controlled schemes. A strong sufficient condition is obtained to guarantee that the synchronization of the kind of networks can be achieved. For the weakly connected network, a method is presented in detail to solve two challenging fundamental problems arising in pinning control of complex networks: (1) How many nodes should be pinned? (2) How large should the coupling strength be used in a fixed complex network to realize synchronization? Then, we show the answer to the question that why all the diagonal block matrices of Perron-Frobenius normal matrices should be pinned? Besides, we find out the relation between the Perron-Frobenius normal form of coupling matrix and the differences of two synchronization conditions for strongly connected networks and weakly connected ones with linear coupling configuration. Moreover, we propose adaptive feedback algorithms to make the coupling strength as small as possible. Finally, numerical simulations are given to verify our theoretical analysis.

Pinning of Vortices for a Variational Problem Related to the Superconductivity with Thermal Noise

This paper is concerned with the minimization problem related to the superconductivity with thermal noise. We study the asymptotic behavior of the minimizes of this problem as the parameters tending to zero and prove the vortices-pinning mechanism.

Pinning Forces in Superconductors from Periodic Ferromagnetic Dot Array

Using the London equation, we derive a formula by which the pinning force from magnetic dots can be cal-culated. We numerically calculate the interaction between ferromagnetic dots and vortices in type II super-conductors under various conditions. It is found that the pinning force of the magnetic dot with 50 nm thick-ness reaches 3.5 × 10-11 N that is one order magnitude stronger than the intrinsic pinning force in cuprate at 77 K. We investigate various parameter dependences of the pinning force. It is found that the most effective way to increase the pinning force is to increase the thickness of the dot. The pinning force is weakly de-pendent on both the size and magnetic permeability of the dots. When temperature increases, the pinning force linearly decreases. And when the magnetic field increases, the attraction force increases linearly in the low field region.

Defect control at nanoscale and flux pinning enhancement in MgB_2 superconductor

Defect control at nanoscale of MgB2 by doping various nanoparticles including Ti, C, nano-diamond, and HOB4, and their roles played to enhance flux pinning force in MgB2 are compared and analyzed. These nanodopants have different chemical and physical properties, thus bring about different pinning efficiency, especially nanodopants with strong magnetic moment are particularly interesting as pinning centers in MgB2 since magnetic impurities usually have a stronger interaction with magnetic flux line than nonmagnetic impurities and may exert a stronger force to trap the flux lines when they are properly introduced into the superconducting matrix.

Effects of irradiation on superconducting properties of small-grained MgB_(2) thin films

We investigate the effect of ion irradiation on MgB_(2) thin films with small grains of approximately 122 nm and 140 nm.The flux pinning by grain boundaries is insignificant in the pristine MgB_(2) films due to good inter-grain connectivity,but is significantly improved after 120-keV Mn-ion irradiation.The scaling behavior of the flux pinning force density for the ion-irradiated MgB_(2) thin films with nanoscale grains demonstrates the predominance of pinning by grain boundaries,in contrast to the single-crystalline MgB_(2) films where normal point pinning was dominant after low-energy ion irradiation.These results suggest that irradiation-induced defects can accumulate near the grain boundaries in metallic MgB_(2) superconductors.

Clinical significance of Baumann's angle in the percutaneous pinning fixation for supracondylar fractures of the humerus in children

To evaluate the clinical significance of Baumann’s angle in the closed reduction and percutaneous pinning fixation for supracondylar fractures of the humerus in children.Methods There were 97 children (male 59,female 38,mean age of 6.8 years) with displaced supracondylar fracrtures of the humerus were treated in this hospital.Under fluoroscopy guidance,three-dimensional displacement of fractures was corrected by closed reduction.The percutaneous Kirschner wire pinning was applied only if the radiographs demonstrated that Baumann’s angle was less than 4 degree compared to that on the normal side.All of them were followed up for 34.5 months (range,12 to 48 months).Results There was one case with ulnar nerve palsy associated with the pinning.There were no Volkmann’s contracture in this group.X-ray examinations revealed an average 73.7 degrees of Baumann angle on the injured and 72.8 on uninjured side.An average 7.6 degrees of the carrying angle on the injured and 9.7 on uninjured side were also demonstrated by radiography.Five patients developed slight cubitus varus deformity.The result according to Flynn criteria were excellent in 85 patients (87.6%),good in 12 patients (12.4%).Conclusion The satisfactory results can be gained in children with displaced supracondylar fractures of the humerus by restoration of the normal Baumann angle and percutaneous pinning fixation.18 refs,2 figs.