Manipulating superconducting films with magnetic nanostripes

• Magnetic nanostripes strongly pin vortices in PbBi-Ni hybrids.
• Magnetic nanostripes are ineffective in pinning vortices in Sn-Co hybrids.
• Effective magnetic pinning by magnetic nanostripes requires coherence length significantly smaller than nanostripe period.

We present studies of the transport properties of a Pb82Bi18 and Sn superconducting film with an array of parallel nickel or cobalt magnetic nanostripes (500 nm period) deposited on the top of a germanium insulating layer covering the superconducting film surface. The critical current parallel to the stripes is significantly larger than critical current perpendicular to the stripes for Pb82Bi18.