title: Measurement of critical currents of superconducting aluminum nanowires in external magnetic fields: evidence for a Weber blockade.
abstract: We have studied the critical current as a function of magnetic field in short and narrow superconducting aluminum nanowires. In the range of magnetic fields in which vortices can enter a nanowire in a single row, we find regular oscillations of the critical current as a function of magnetic field, with each oscillation corresponding to adding a single vortex to the nanowire. In this regime, the nanowires behave as quantum dots for vortices. As a function of current and magnetic field, we find diamond-shaped regions in which the resistance is zero and the number of vortices is fixed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morgan-Wall
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leith
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Nikolaus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hartman
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Atikur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marković