Manipulating individual vortices in a deterministic way is challenging; ideally, manipulation should be effective, local, and tunable in strength and location. Here, we show that vortices respond to local mechanical stress applied in the vicinity of the vortex. We utilized this interaction to move individual vortices in thin superconducting films via local mechanical contact without magnetic field or current. We used a scanning superconducting quantum interference device to image vortices and to apply local vertical stress with the tip of our sensor. Vortices were attracted to the contact point, relocated, and were stable at their new location. We show that vortices move only after contact and that more effective manipulation is achieved with stronger force and longer contact time. Mechanical manipulation of vortices provides a local view of the interaction between strain and nanomagnetic objects as well as controllable, effective, and reproducible manipulation technique.

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The metal-insulator transition (MIT) properties of correlated oxides thin films, such as VO2, are dramatically affected by strain induced at the interface with the substrate, which usually changes with deposition thickness. For VO2 grown on r-cut sapphire, there is a minimum deposition thickness required for a significant MIT to appear, around 60 nm. We show that in these thicker films an interface layer develops, which accompanies the relaxation of film strain and enhanced electronic transition. If these interface dislocations are stable at room temperature, we conjectured, a new route opens to control thickness of VO2 films by postdeposition thinning of relaxed films, overcoming the need for thickness-dependent strain-engineered substrates. This is possible only if thinning does not alter the films' electronic properties. We find that wet etching in a dilute NaOH solution can effectively thin the VO2 films, which continue to show a significant MIT, even when etched to 10 nm, for which directly deposited films show nearly no transition. The structural and chemical composition were not modified by the etching, but the grain size and film roughness were, which modified the hysteresis width and magnitude of the MIT resistance change.

Microfluidic chips provide a powerful platform for high-throughput screening of diverse biophysical systems. The most prevalent detection methods are fluorescence based. Developing new readout techniques for microfluidics focusing on quantitative information in the low signal regime is desirable. In this work, we combine the well-established immunoassay approach, with magnetic nanoparticles, with a highly sensitive magnetic imaging technique. We offer to integrate a microfluidic array into a scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) microscope, to image nanoparticles that were moved through the microfluidic device. We demonstrate the technique on protein-protein interactions (PPI). We compare sensitivity to that of a conventional readout, quantify the amount of interactions, and demonstrate 0.1 atto-mole sensitivity. Our work serves as a proof of concept that will promote the development of a new set of eyes, a stable usable microfluidic-scanning SQUID microscopy.

Scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) microscopy is a powerful tool for investigating electronic states at surfaces and interfaces by mapping their magnetic signal. SQUID operation requires cryogenic temperatures, which are typically achieved by immersing the cryostat in liquid helium. Making a transition to cryogen free systems is desirable, but has been challenging, as electric noise and vibrations are increased in such systems. We report on the successful operation of a scanning SQUID microscope in a modified Montana Instruments cryogen-free cooler with a base temperature of 4.3 K. We demonstrate scanning SQUID measurements with flux noise performance comparable to a wet system and correlate the sensor-sample vibrations to the cryocooler operation frequencies. In addition, we demonstrate successful operation in a variety of SQUID operation modes, including mapping static magnetic fields, measurement of local susceptibility, and spatial mapping of current flow distribution.