Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- List of Figures -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1 Quantization and confinement in nano-materials -- 1.2 Nanostructuring -- 1.3 Confining the superconducting condensate -- 1.4 Nucleation of superconductivity in presence of spatially modulated magnetic fields -- 1.5 Vortex matter in superconductors -- 1.5.1 The structure of a single vortex -- 1.5.2 The vortex lattice - general considerations -- 1.5.3 Vortex lattices in thin films -- 1.5.4 Vortex lattices in type-1.5 superconductors -- 1.6 Flux pinning -- 1.6.1 Structural pinning -- 1.6.2 Magnetic pinning -- 2. Individual Nanostructures -- 2.1 Line -- 2.2 Loop -- 2.3 Disc -- 2.4 The cross-over from loop to dot -- 2.5 Symmetry-induced antivortices in mesoscopic superconductors -- 2.5.1 Square -- 2.5.2 Triangle -- 2.5.3 Rectangles -- 2.6 The magnetization of singly connected nanostructures -- 2.6.1 Disc -- 2.6.2 Triangle -- 2.6.3 Square -- 2.7 Dynamic effects in mesoscopic structures -- 2.7.1 Rectification effects in a triangle -- 2.7.2 Reversal of the diode effect -- 2.7.3 The diode effect in a disk -- 2.7.4 Comparison with a theoretical model -- 2.8 Hybrid individual cells -- 2.8.1 Square with magnetic dot -- 2.8.2 Phase shifter -- 3. Clusters of Nanocells -- 3.1 One-dimensional clusters of loops -- 3.2 Two-dimensional clusters of antidots -- 3.3 Magnetically coupled loops -- 4. Laterally Nanostructured Superconductors -- 4.1 The Tc(H) phase boundary of superconducting films with an antidot lattice -- 4.2 Pinning in laterally nanostructured superconductors -- 4.2.1 Pinning by an antidot or a columnar defect -- 4.2.2 Regular pinning arrays -- 4.2.3 Regular pinning arrays with nS = 1 -- 4.2.4 Multiquanta vortex lattices (nS > 1) -- 4.2.5 Crossover from pinning arrays to networks (nS 1) -- 4.2.6 Composite antidot lattices -- 4.3 Ratchet effects in antidot lattices.

4.3.1 Vortex rectification in films with asymmetric pinning -- 4.3.2 Controlled multiple reversals of a ratchet effect -- 4.3.3 The origin of reversed vortex ratchet motion -- 5. Superconductor-Ferromagnet Hybrid Systems -- 5.1 Field polarity dependent vortex pinning in laterally nanostructured S/F systems -- 5.1.1 Vortex pinning by magnetic dots -- 5.1.2 Commensurate vortex domain formation -- 5.2 Field induced superconductivity -- 5.3 Dipole-induced vortex ratchet effects -- 5.3.1 Generation of vortex-antivortex pairs -- 5.3.2 Switching rectification properties -- 5.4 Superconductivity in stray fields of magnetic domains -- 5.4.1 Domain superconductivity and domain-wall superconductivity -- 5.4.2 Direct visualization of reverse-domain superconductivity -- 5.4.3 Superconducting - normal-state junctions induced by stray magnetic fields -- Concluding Remarks -- Bibliography -- Index.