Fabrication and magnetic behaviour of superconductor nanowire arrays

Superconducting Pb nanowire arrays with diameters of about 45 nm have been fabricated by electrodeposition using anodic porous alumina templates. The Pb nanowires were of crystalline face-centre cubic structure and structurally uniform. The temperature dependence of their magnetic behaviour was investigated. The Pb nanowire arrays exhibit anisotropy, and the Meissner effect of the nanowires is entirely different from that of the bulk Pb; irreversible type II superconductor behaviour has been observed in the Pb nanowires at 5 K.