Sublimated Decoupling of the Vortex Lattice in Extremely Type-II Layered Superconductors

Abstract

The question of whether layer decoupling and vortex-lattice melting occur seperately or not in the mixed phase of pristine layered superconductors in the extreme type-II limit is studied through a partial duality analysis of the layered XY model with uniform frustration. We find that both transitions occur simultaneously if the normal/superconducting transition of the vortex lattice in an isolated layer is first-order and if a sufficient degree of layer anisotropy exists. We also find that a cross-over to a highly entangled vortex lattice phase with relatively low phase rigidity across layers does not occur in practice under any circumstances at temperatures below the two-dimensional vortex-lattice melting transition.

15 pgs. of plain TeX, 2 figs, erratum appended

References in corpus (2)

• Degradation of Phase Coherence by Defects in a Two-Dimensional Vortex Lattice
• Optimum pinning of the vortex lattice in extremely type-II layered superconductors

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Defective Vortex Lattices in Layered Superconductors with Point Pins at the Extreme Type-II Limit
• Collective pinning of the vortex lattice by columnar defects in layered superconductors
• Correlation lengths for vortex-liquid freezing in a model of layered high-temperature superconductor
• Effect of the intrinsic Josephson coupling on the pancake lattice in layered superconductors
• Defective Vortex Lattices in Layered Superconductors with Both Point and Correlated Pins
• Anomalous Nernst Effect in the Vortex-Liquid Phase of High-Temperature Superconductors by Layer Decoupling