Density functional theory of vortex lattice melting in layered superconductors: a mean-field--substrate approach

Abstract

We study the melting of the pancake vortex lattice in a layered superconductor in the limit of vanishing Josephson coupling. Our approach combines the methodology of a recently proposed mean-field substrate model for such systems with the classical density functional theory of freezing. We derive a free-energy functional in terms of a scalar order-parameter profile and use it to derive a simple formula describing the temperature dependence of the melting field. Our theoretical predictions are in good agreement with simulation data. The theoretical framework proposed is thermodynamically consistent and thus capable of describing the negative magnetization jump obtained in experiments. Such consistency is demonstrated by showing the equivalence of our expression for the density discontinuity at the transition with the corresponding Clausius-Clapeyron relation.

11 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Vortex fluctuations in underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d crystals
• Vortex matter in layered superconductors without Josephson coupling: numerical simulations within a mean-field approach
• Effective way to sum over long range Coulomb potentials in two and three dimensions
• Surface melting of the vortex lattice

Cited by in corpus (5)

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• Suppression of the Melting Line in a Weakly Disordered Flux-line System
• Surface Melting of the Vortex Lattice in Layered Superconductors: Density Functional Theory