Intervortex quasiparticle tunneling and electronic structure of multi-vortex configurations in type-II superconductors
A. S. Mel'nikov, M. A. Silaev
Institute for Physics of Microstructures RAS, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod, GSP-105, Russia
PACS: 74.25.-q, 74.78.Na
Abstract
The electronic spectrum of multi-vortex configurations in type-II
superconductors is studied taking account of the effect of quasiparticle
tunneling between the vortex cores. The tunneling is responsible for the
formation of strongly coupled quasiparticle states for intervortex distances
a<ac, where the critical distance ac is
of the order of several coherence lengths ξ.
Analyzing the resulting spectra of vortex clusters bonded by the
quasiparticle tunneling we find a transition from a set of degenerate
Caroli - de Gennes - Matricon branches to anomalous branches similar to the
ones in multi-quanta giant vortices. This spectrum transformation results
in the oscillatory behavior of the density of states at the Fermi level as a
function of a and could be observed in mesoscopic superconductors and
disordered flux line arrays in the bulk systems.