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Annealing-induced grain coarsening and voltage kinks in superconducting NbRe films

Zahra Makhdoumi Kakhaki1,*, Anton O. Pokusinskyi1, Francesco Avitabile2, Abhishek Kumar2,3, Francesco Colangelo2,3, Carla Cirillo3, Carmine Attanasio2,3,4, and Oleksandr V. Dobrovolskiy1,5

  • *Contact author: z.makhdoumi-kakhaki@tu-braunschweig.de
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 094209 – Published 28 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hhkw-ccv8

Abstract

NbRe, a noncentrosymmetric superconductor with a transition temperature Tc of up to about 9 K, attracts interest for its strong antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling and suitability for single-photon detection. While bulk and thin-film polycrystalline NbRe are well studied, how superconductivity and vortex dynamics evolve with increasing grain size in thin films is largely unknown. Here, we investigate as-grown and annealed 20 nm-thick NbRe films, where annealing increases the average crystallite size from approximately 2 to 8 nm, and probe their resistance states via current-voltage (I−V) measurements over a broad temperature and magnetic field range. In contrast to as-grown films, where the low-resistive state breaks down due to flux-flow instability, annealed films exhibit multiple voltage kinks in the I−V curves. We attribute these kinks to the nucleation and growth of normal domains, as further suggested by time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau simulations. Overall, the annealed films form superconducting networks with vortex-channeling paths along the grain boundaries, while localized heating and voltage kinks may offer potential for discrete-resistance switching and sensing.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 094209– Published 28 August, 2026
  • Received 9 April 2026
  • Accepted 10 August 2026
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