Vortex-chain phases in layered superconductors

Abstract

Layered superconductors in tilted magnetic field have a very rich spectrum of vortex lattice configurations. In the presence of in-plane magnetic field, a small c-axis field penetrates in the form of isolated vortex chains. The structure of a single chain is mainly determined by the ratio of the London [$\lambda$] and Josephson [${\lambda }_J$] lengths, $\alpha =\lambda /{\lambda }_J$. At large $\alpha$ the chain is composed of tilted vortices [tilted chains] and at small $\alpha$ it consists of a crossing array of Josephson vortices and pancake stacks [crossing chains]. We studied the chain structures at intermediate $\alpha$'s and found two types of behavior. (I) In the range $0.4<\alpha <0.5$ a c-axis field first penetrates in the form of pancake-stack chains located on Josephson vortices. Due to attractive coupling between deformed stacks, their density jumps from zero to a finite value. With further increase of the c-axis field the chain structure smoothly evolves into modulated tilted vortices and then transforms via a second-order phase transition, into the tilted straight vortices. (II) In the range $0.5<\alpha <0.65$ a c-axis field first penetrates in the form of kinks creating kinked tilted vortices. With increasing the c-axis field this structure is replaced via a first-order phase transition by the strongly deformed crossing chain. This transition is accompanied by a large jump of pancake density. Further evolution of the chain structure is similar to the higher anisotropy scenario: it smoothly transforms back into the tilted straight vortices.

Accepted to Phys. Rev. B, 20 pages 12 figures, animation of chain structure is available in http://mti.msd.anl.gov/movies/Chains/Nl8al06Im.gif (gif, 441 KB)

References in corpus (1)

• Josephson vortices and solitons inside pancake vortex lattice in layered superconductors

Cited by in corpus (12)

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• Attractive interaction between superconducting vortices in tilted magnetic fields
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• Visualizing a dilute vortex liquid to solid phase transition in a Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 single crystal
• Stripe Domains and First Order Phase Transition in the Vortex Matter of Anisotropic High-temperature Superconductors
• Lamellar mesophase nucleated by Josephson vortices at the melting of the vortex lattice in $B{i}_{2}S{r}_{2}CaC{u}_2{O}_{8+delta}$
• Helical instability of charged vortices in layered superconductors
• Sign reversal of the Hall resistance in the mixed-state of La${}_{1.89}$ Ce${}_{0.11}$CuO${}_4$ and La${}_{1.89}$Ce${}_{0.11}$(Cu${}_{0.99}$Co${}_{0.01}$)O${}_4$ thin films
• Vortex liquid correlations induced by in-plane field in underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d
• Effect of the intrinsic Josephson coupling on the pancake lattice in layered superconductors
• Pre-melting of crossing vortex lattices