Shear-limited flux pinning studied in superconducting thin-film devices

Abstract
We report critical-current measurements on superconducting devices containing nanometer-scale artificially structured channels of low pinning which simulate microstructures in technical superconductors. Our observations uniquely demonstrate the role of the grain morphology for flux pinning in polycrystalline materials. The results are in very good agreement with a continuum model for the shear-limited pinning force.