Nanoscale control over single vortex motion in an unconventional superconductor

Sang Yong Song; Chengyun Hua; Gábor B. Halász; Wonhee Ko; Jiaqiang Yan; Benjamin J. Lawrie; Petro Maksymovych

doi:10.1039/d5nr04204f

Nanoscale control over single vortex motion in an unconventional superconductor

Sang Yong Song
, Chengyun Hua
, Gábor B. Halász
, Wonhee Ko
, Jiaqiang Yan
, Benjamin J. Lawrie
, Petro Maksymovych

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Precise control of superconducting vortices is crucial for studying vortex dynamics and vortex braiding. We propose a new method to pull vortex lines in the layered superconductor FeSe using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip. Weak contact of the STM tip with the FeSe surface locally reduces the superconducting gap, thereby creating a tunable vortex pinning potential on the nanometer scale. This enables controlled vortex line deformation even in dense vortex lattices. Analytical modeling reveals that the deformation strength scales logarithmically with conductance and depends on tip geometry. Our findings point to local strain-induced gap suppression as the mechanism for STM-mediated vortex manipulation, providing a fundamental insight relevant to vortex behavior in the context of quantum information studies.

Original language	English
Journal	Nanoscale
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/d5nr04204f
State	Accepted/In press - 2026

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. Scanning tunneling microscopy was performed at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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10.1039/d5nr04204f

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title = "Nanoscale control over single vortex motion in an unconventional superconductor",

abstract = "Precise control of superconducting vortices is crucial for studying vortex dynamics and vortex braiding. We propose a new method to pull vortex lines in the layered superconductor FeSe using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip. Weak contact of the STM tip with the FeSe surface locally reduces the superconducting gap, thereby creating a tunable vortex pinning potential on the nanometer scale. This enables controlled vortex line deformation even in dense vortex lattices. Analytical modeling reveals that the deformation strength scales logarithmically with conductance and depends on tip geometry. Our findings point to local strain-induced gap suppression as the mechanism for STM-mediated vortex manipulation, providing a fundamental insight relevant to vortex behavior in the context of quantum information studies.",

author = "Song, \{Sang Yong\} and Chengyun Hua and Hal{\'a}sz, \{G{\'a}bor B.\} and Wonhee Ko and Jiaqiang Yan and Lawrie, \{Benjamin J.\} and Petro Maksymovych",

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AU - Song, Sang Yong

AU - Hua, Chengyun

AU - Halász, Gábor B.

AU - Ko, Wonhee

AU - Yan, Jiaqiang

AU - Lawrie, Benjamin J.

AU - Maksymovych, Petro

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - Precise control of superconducting vortices is crucial for studying vortex dynamics and vortex braiding. We propose a new method to pull vortex lines in the layered superconductor FeSe using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip. Weak contact of the STM tip with the FeSe surface locally reduces the superconducting gap, thereby creating a tunable vortex pinning potential on the nanometer scale. This enables controlled vortex line deformation even in dense vortex lattices. Analytical modeling reveals that the deformation strength scales logarithmically with conductance and depends on tip geometry. Our findings point to local strain-induced gap suppression as the mechanism for STM-mediated vortex manipulation, providing a fundamental insight relevant to vortex behavior in the context of quantum information studies.

AB - Precise control of superconducting vortices is crucial for studying vortex dynamics and vortex braiding. We propose a new method to pull vortex lines in the layered superconductor FeSe using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip. Weak contact of the STM tip with the FeSe surface locally reduces the superconducting gap, thereby creating a tunable vortex pinning potential on the nanometer scale. This enables controlled vortex line deformation even in dense vortex lattices. Analytical modeling reveals that the deformation strength scales logarithmically with conductance and depends on tip geometry. Our findings point to local strain-induced gap suppression as the mechanism for STM-mediated vortex manipulation, providing a fundamental insight relevant to vortex behavior in the context of quantum information studies.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105031433765

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DO - 10.1039/d5nr04204f

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105031433765

SN - 2040-3364

JO - Nanoscale

JF - Nanoscale

ER -

Nanoscale control over single vortex motion in an unconventional superconductor

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