Observation of interacting Josephson vortex chains by magnetic force microscopy

Abstract

The ability to control Josephson vortices is instrumental for development of superconducting cryoelectronics. However, direct visualization of multivortex states in Josephson junctions is a challenging task. Here, we employ a magnetic force microscopy (MFM) for the analysis of planar Josephson junctions. We observe a specific MFM response, seen as a chain of small rings. By changing the applied field, we show that the number of rings is equal to the number of flux quanta in the junction. Therefore, each ring represents an individual vortex in a one-dimensional vortex chain within the junction. Our observation demonstrates that the MFM technique can be used for visualization of Josephson vortices and for probing their spatial configurations and mutual interaction.