Plastic Vortex Motion
Triangular pins: Steady state motion

The movie shows the steady-state motion of vortices through a sample with a triangular array of pinning sites. We add vortices at a constant rate to an unpinned region at the left edge of the sample, creating a gradient in vortex density that drives the vortices into the pinned region. Circles represent vortices.

The parabolic pins in this sample are in a triangular array at a density of n_p = 0.44 (Pinning site density) and are all of strength f_p = 1.5 (Pinning site strength) Half of the vortices shown are sitting in the regular array of pinning sites, and oscillate in the pinning sites without becoming depinned or moving through the sample. The other half of the vortices are located between rows of pinned vortices, and are following channels of vortex motion between the rows of pinning sites. Note the correlations among the channels of moving vortices.

Parameters and Notes

• A_p = 1.5 (Pinning strength)
• N_p = 275 (Number of pinning sites)
• r_p = 0.15 (Radius of pinning)
• Parabolic triangular pinning
• All pinning sites were the same strength.
• Time between vortex drops = 80 md steps.
• The movie was written out every 20 md steps.

Created by: Cynthia Olson and Jared Groth
Last modified: 12/18/96