Current filamentation and macroturbulence in superconductors in rotating magnetic fields

The onset of specific magnetic structures associated with the formation of extended current filaments is observed in YBCO single crystals in a rotating magnetic field. Like current filaments in a plasma, they are unstable and decay into current macrovortices. The appearance of filaments is explained by the formation of closed flux rings along magnetization-reversal fronts and collapse of these rings with formation of Meissner cylinders. The total current along the surface and in the vortex shell of the cylinder (the latter current dominates in high-T _c superconductors) exceeds the critical current in the same volume located far from a filament. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 3, 253–257 (10 February 1997)