Anomalous Nernst effect and heat transport by vortex vacancies in granular superconductors

We study the Nernst effect due to vortex motion in two-dimensional granular superconductors using simulations with Langevin or resistively shunted Josephson-junction dynamics. In particular, we show that the geometric frustration of both regular and irregular granular materials can lead to thermally driven transport of vortices from colder to hotter regions, resulting in a sign reversal of the Nernst signal. We discuss the underlying mechanisms of this anomalous behavior in terms of heat transport by mobile vacancies in an otherwise pinned vortex lattice. ©2010 The American Physical Society