Effect of Born and unitary impurity scattering on the Kramer–Pesch shrinkage of a vortex core in an s-wave superconductor

We theoretically investigate a non-magnetic impurity effect on the temperature dependence of the vortex core shrinkage (Kramer–Pesch effect) in a single-band s-wave superconductor. The Born limit and the unitary limit scattering are compared within the framework of the quasiclassical theory of superconductivity. We find that the impurity effect inside a vortex core in the unitary limit is weaker than in the Born one when a system is in the moderately clean regime, which results in a stronger core shrinkage in the unitary limit than in the Born one.

► We study non-magnetic impurity effect on a vortex in moderately clean regime. ► Impurity effect on s-wave vortex core in unitary limit is weaker than in Born one. ► Kramer–Pesch vortex core shrinkage is stronger in unitary limit than in Born one.