From Japanese basket weaving art to nanotechnology with ion beams: Ultradense arrays of magnetic quanta in high-temperature superconductors

The properties of high-temperature superconductors can be tailored by the introduction of artificial defects. An international research team has succeeded in producing the world's densest complex nano arrays for anchoring flux quanta, the fluxons. This was achieved by irradiating the superconductor with a helium-ion microscope, a technology that has only recently become available. The researchers were inspired by a traditional Japanese basket weaving art.