title: Control of switching between metastable superconducting states in δ-MoN nanowires.
abstract: The superconducting state in one-dimensional nanosystems is very delicate. While fluctuations of the phase of the superconducting wave function lead to the spontaneous decay of persistent supercurrents in thin superconducting wires and nanocircuits, discrete phase-slip fluctuations can also lead to more exotic phenomena, such as the appearance of metastable superconducting states in current-bearing wires. Here we show that switching between different metastable superconducting states in δ-MoN nanowires can be very effectively manipulated by introducing small amplitude electrical noise. Furthermore, we show that deterministic switching between metastable superconducting states with different numbers of phase-slip centres can be achieved in both directions with small electrical current pulse perturbations of appropriate polarity. The observed current-controlled bi-stability is in remarkable agreement with theoretically predicted trajectories of the system switching between different limit cycle solutions of a model one-dimensional superconductor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Complex Matter, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Jože
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buh
authors.affiliation: Department of Complex Matter, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Viktor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kabanov
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1218-499X
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Baranov
authors.affiliation: Department of Complex Matter, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Aleš
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mrzel
authors.affiliation: Department of Complex Matter, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Andrej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kovič
authors.affiliation: Department of Complex Matter, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.|Jozef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.|Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mihailovic