1/f noise from vortex-antivortex annihilation

The magnetic flux noise induced by vortices in thin superconducting films is studied. Rigid vortices in thin films as well as pancake vortices in the pancake gas regime are addressed. The vortex dynamics is described by a Feynman path integral which fully accounts for the balance between vortex entropy and vortex energetics. We find that vortex pair creation (annihilation) in the presence of pinning is a natural source for noise with a 1/f spectrum.