Lior Embon, Yonathan Anahory, Yuri Myasoedov, Michael L. Rappaport, Martin E. Huber and Eli Zeldov, Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
Magnetic vortices in a superconducting lead film as imaged by the scanning SQUID-on-tip microscope. All four images were taken at a temperature of 4.2 Kelvin and show the same area of 12 x 12 μm2 in which the film was shaped as an hour-glass. The images show the behavior of "vortex matter" at different densities. Electric current which is applied through the film exerts a force on these quantum entities and they start "flowing" across the film from the bottom upwards forming beautiful channels which resemble the flow of rivers or the branching of a tree.
