VORTEX CONFIGURATIONS IN TYPE-II SUPERCONDUCTING FILMS

This article is concerned with the numerical solution of the Ginzburg- Landau (GL) model for type-II superconductors in thin films (two-dimen sional periodic domains). A new gauge is defined that reduces the coup ling between the equations for the nonzero components of the vector po tential. The GL equations are written in a symmetric form by means of continuous link variables. A second-order accurate scheme is used for the numerical approximation. Numerical experiments demonstrate that th e discrete GL model leads to asymmetric solutions in the plane; symmet ry is recovered only in the limit as the mesh size goes to zero. Resul ts of computational experiments to find the upper critical field and a n empirical power law for Vortex interactions are given. (C) 1995 Acad emic Press, Inc.