Image simulations of kinked vortices for transmission electron microscopy

We present an improved model of kinked vortices in high-T-c superconductors suitable for the interpretation of Fresnel or holographic observations carried out with a transmission electron microscope. A kinked vortex is composed of two displaced half-vortices, perpendicular to the film plane, connected by a horizontal flux-line in the plane, resembling a connecting Josephson vortex (JV) segment. Such structures may arise when a magnetic field is applied almost in the plane, and the line tension of the fluxon breaks down under its influence. The existence of kinked vortices was hinted in earlier observations of high-T-c superconducting films, where the Fresnel contrast associated with some vortices showed a dumbbell like appearance. Here, we show that under suitable conditions the JV segment may reveal itself in Fresnel imaging or holographic phase mapping in a transmission electron microscope. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.