https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2003-00216-2
Nucleation of superconductivity in mesoscopic star-shaped superconductors
1
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
60208, USA
2
Theoretische Fysica van de Vaste Stoffen, Universiteit
Antwerpen (UIA), 2610 Antwerpen, Belgium
Corresponding author: a devreese@uia.ua.ac.be
Received:
26
February
2003
Published online:
4
August
2003
We study the phase transition
of a star-shaped superconductor, which covers smoothly
the range from zero to two dimensions with respect to the
superconducting coherence length 
. Detailed measurements
and numerical calculations show that the nucleation of
superconductivity in this device is very inhomogeneous:
the superconducting order parameter is strongly enhanced
and mostly robust in regions close to multiple boundaries.
The strong inhomogeneity of the order parameter results
in a rich structure of the superconducting transition
as a function of temperature and magnetic field.
PACS: 74.78.-w – Superconducting films and low-dimensional structures / 74.78.Na – Mesoscopic and nanoscale systems / 74.20.De – Phenomenological theories
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2003
