Pulverization of the flux line lattice, the phase coexistence and the spinodal temperature of the order-disorder transition in a weakly pinned crystal of Yb$_3$Rh$_4$Sn$_{13}$

S Sarkar; C V Tomy; A D Thakur; G Balakrishnan; D McK Paul; S Ramakrishnan; A K Grover

doi:10.1007/BF02704946

paper

Pulverization of the flux line lattice, the phase coexistence and the spinodal temperature of the order-disorder transition in a weakly pinned crystal of Yb $_{3}$ Rh $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$

arXiv:cond-mat/0512679 · doi:10.1007/BF02704946

Abstract

We have studied metastability effects pertaining to the peak effect (PE) in critical current density ( $J_{c}$ ) via isofield scans in ac susceptibility measurements in a weakly pinned single crystal of Yb $_{3}$ Rh $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$ ( $T_{c} (0) \approx 7.6$ ~K). The order-disorder transition in this specimen proceeds in a multi-step manner. The phase coexistence regime between the onset temperature of the PE and the spinodal temperature (where metastability effects cease) seems to comprise two parts, where ordered and disordered regions dominate the bulk behavior, respectively. The PE line in the vortex phase diagram is argued to terminate at the low field end at a critical point in the elastic (Bragg) glass phase.

To appear in Current trends in Vortex State Studies (Pramana-J. Phys.)

Pulverization of the flux line lattice, the phase coexistence and the spinodal temperature of the order-disorder transition in a weakly pinned crystal of Yb3​Rh4​Sn13​

Abstract

Pulverization of the flux line lattice, the phase coexistence and the spinodal temperature of the order-disorder transition in a weakly pinned crystal of Yb $_{3}$ Rh $_{4}$ Sn $_{13}$