Fig. 4: Pair annihilation of an elongated single SVAP.
From: Vortex confinement through an unquantized magnetic flux
a–c Manipulation process of one end of an SVAP by an MFM tip. After moving the scan frame step by step via piezo walkers, a final vortex‒antivortex distance of 17 µm is achieved. d–f Thermally assisted depinning of both the vortex and the antivortex and pair annihilation as a result of successive heat pulses. Note that a confining interaction still exists between the antivortex and its previously manipulated counterpart because of the movement of the antivortex, as indicated by the white arrow, which is clearly visible in d and e. All MFM images were taken at 4.2 K with a tip‒sample distance of 600 nm.
