Critical states and thermomagnetic instabilities in three-dimensional nanostructured superconductors

Critical state field profiles and thermomagnetic instabilities are studied in two kinds of three-dimensional nanostructured superconductors. We find that the critical state field profiles in some simple bi-layer systems are not simple superpositions of critical states in the two layers. Competition between the divergence of the local field at the edges of the film and the shielding by the neighboring layer makes novel critical state field profiles. We also studied flux avalanches in shifted strip arrays (SSAs) with layer numbers up to six. Various forms of avalanches either perpendicular or parallel to the strip are observed when the overlap between strips in neighboring layers is large. We also find that introduction of asymmetry in various forms to SSA affects the shape of flux avalanches sensitively. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.