Continuous Melting of a "Partially Pinned" Two-Dimensional Vortex Lattice in a Square Array of Pinning Centers

Abstract

The structure and equilibrium properties of a two-dimensional system of superconducting vortices in a periodic pinning potential with square symmetry are studied numerically. For a range of the strength of the pinning potential, the low-temperature crystalline state exhibits only one of the two basic periodicities (in the $x$- and $y$-directions) of the pinning potential. This ``partially pinned'' solid undergoes a continuous melting transition to a weakly modulated liquid as the temperature is increased. A spin model, constructed using symmetry arguments, is shown to reproduce the critical behavior at this transition.

arXiv comment5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Magnetization Controlled Superconductivity in a Film with Magnetic Dots
• Vortex Lattice Melting in 2D Superconducting Networks and Films
• Vortex lattce melting in 2D superconductors and Josephson arrays
• Commensurate and Incommensurate Vortex Lattice Melting in Periodic Pinning Arrays

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Unusual magneto-transport of YBa2Cu3O7-d films due to the interplay of anisotropy, random disorder and nanoscale periodic pinning
• Structure and Magnetization of Two-Dimensional Vortex Arrays in the Presence of Periodic Pinning
• Brownian dynamics study of driven partially pinned solid in the presence of square array of pinning centers: Enhanced pinning close to the melting transition