title: Vortex-antivortex nucleation in magnetically nanotextured superconductors: magnetic-field-driven and thermal scenarios.
abstract: Within the Ginzburg-Landau formalism, we predict two novel mechanisms of vortex-antivortex nucleation in a magnetically nanostructured superconductor. Although counterintuitive, nucleation of vortex-antivortex pairs can be activated in a superconducting (SC) film covered by arrays of submicron ferromagnets (FMs) when exposed to an external homogeneous magnetic field. In another scenario, we predict the thermal induction of vortex-antivortex configurations in SC-FM samples. This phenomenon leads to a new type of Little-Parks oscillations of the FM magnetization-temperature phase boundary of the SC film.
authors.affiliation: Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen (Campus Middelheim), Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Milosević
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Peeters