Superconductors are excellent testbeds for studying vortices, topological excitations that also appear in superfluids, liquid crystals, and Bose-Einstein condensates. Vortex motion can be disruptive; it can cause phase transitions, glitches in pulsars, and losses in superconducting microwave circuits, and it limits the current carrying capacity of superconductors. Understanding vortex dynamics is therefore of fundamental and technological importance, and the competition between the effects of thermal energy and energy barriers defined by material disorder is not completely understood. In particular, early measurements of thermally-activated vortex motion (creep) in iron-based superconductors unveiled fast rates (S) comparable to measurements of YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO). This was puzzling because S is thought to somehow positively correlate with the Ginzburg number (Gi), and Gi is orders of magnitude lower in most iron-based superconductors than in YBCO. Here, we report very slow creep in BaFe2(As0.67P0.33)2 films, and propose that there is a universal minimum realizable (where Tc is the superconducting transition temperature) that has been achieved in our films, few other materials, and violated by none. This limitation provides new clues on how to design materials with slow creep and helps elucidate open questions regarding the interplay between system-specific length scales and vortex dynamics.
We image vortex creep at very low temperatures using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) in the superconductor Rh$_9$In$_4$S$_4$ ($T_c$=2.25 K). We measure the superconducting gap of Rh$_9$In$_4$S$_4$, finding $Δ\approx 0.33$meV and image a hexagonal vortex lattice up to close to H$_{c2}$, observing slow vortex creep at temperatures as low as 150 mK. We estimate thermal and quantum barriers for vortex motion and show that thermal fluctuations likely cause vortex creep, in spite of being at temperatures $T/T_c<0.1$. We study creeping vortex lattices by making images during long times and show t…
Vortex-antivortex arrays that are created in a type-II superconducting film by lattices of ferromagnetic dots with perpendicular anisotropy have been investigated. The highest critical current is shifted to a nonzero value of the applied field, and current-voltage characteristics show different regimes of vortex motion even in zero-applied field due to the presence of the vortex-antivortex arrays. Creep of interstitial vortices is observed at low driving forces. This flux creep is strongly field-polarity dependent.
We study the effects of splayed columnar pins on the vortex motion using realistic London Langevin simulations. At low currents vortex creep is strongly suppressed, whereas the critical current j_c is enhanced only moderately. Splaying the pins generates an increasing energy barrier against vortex hopping, and leads to the forced entanglement of vortices, both of which suppress creep efficiently. On the other hand splaying enhances kink nucleation and introduces intersecting pins, which cut off the energy barriers. Thus the j_c enhancement is strongly parameter sensitive. We also characterize …
We study the vortex dynamics in high-quality FeTe$_{0.6}$Se$_{0.4}$ single crystal by performing magnetization measurements of the screening current density \emph{J}$_s$ and flux creep rate \emph{S}. Temperature dependence of \emph{S} shows a plateau in the intermediate temperature region with a high creep rate $\sim$ 0.03, which is interpreted in the framework of the collective creep theory. A crossover from elastic to plastic creep is observed. The glassy exponent and barrier height for flux creep are directly determined by extended Maley's method. \emph{J}$_s$ with flux creep, obtained from…
The glassy dynamics is a consequence of the elastic properties of the vortex matter, and in principle may occur in any superconductor. However, whereas a large amount of experimental evidence confirms glassiness in high Tc superconductors (HTS), the applicability of the whole framework developed to describe vortex matter in HTS to other superconducting materials is unclear. In this framework, the particular creep behavior of MgB2, larger than creep of conventional superconductor materials but much lower than HTS one, had precluded a complete understanding of the vortex regimes in this material…
We consider the current density distribution function of a flux creep regime in type-II superconductors by mapping the flux creep process to the dynamics of a model with a self-organized criticality. We use an extremal Robin Hood type model which evolves to Been's type critical state to treat magnetic flux penetration into a superconductor and derive an analog of the current-voltage characteristics in the flux creep region.
We report the temperature, magnetic field and time dependences of magnetization in advanced Ba122 superconducting tapes. The sample exhibits a peculiar vortex creep behavior. Below 10 K, the normalized magnetization relaxation rate S=dln(-M)/dln(t) shows a temperature insensitive plateau with a value comparable to that of the low temperature superconductors, which can be explained within the framework of the collective creep theory. It then enters into a second collective creep regime when the temperature increases. Interestingly, the relaxation rate below 20 K tends to saturate with the incre…
We present an experimental study of thermally activated flux creep in a superconducting ring-shaped epitaxial YBCO film as well as a new way of analyzing the experimental data. The measurements were made in a wide range of temperatures between 10 and 83 K. The upper temperature limit was dictated by our experimental technique and at low temperatures we were limited by a crossover to quantum tunneling of vortices. It is shown that the experimental data can very well be described by assuming a simple thermally activated hopping of vortices or vortex bundles over potential barriers, whereby the h…
We study theoretically the space-time evolution of the thermal and electromagnetic perturbation in a superconductor with a nonlinear current-voltage characteristics in the flux creep regime. On the basis of a linear analysis of a set of differential equations describing small perturbations of temperature and electromagnetic field, it is found that under some conditions a branching instability may occur in a superconductor sample.
We develop a theory for plastic flux creep in a topologically disordered vortex solid phase in type-II superconductors. We propose a detailed description of the plastic vortex creep of the dislocated, amorphous vortex glass in terms of motion of dislocations driven by a transport current $j$. The {\em plastic barriers} $U_{pl}(j)\propto j^{-μ}$ show power-law divergence at small drives with exponents $μ=1$ for single dislocation creep and $μ= 2/5$ for creep of dislocation bundles. The suppression of the creep rate is a hallmark of the transition from the topologically ordered vortex lattice to…
We report the magnetic field -- temperature ($H-T$) phase diagram of Ca$_{10}$(Pt$_4$As$_8$)[(Fe$_{1-x}$Pt$_x$)$_2$As$_2$]$_5$ ($x\approx 0.05$) single crystals, which consists of normal, vortex liquid, plastic creep and elastic creep phases. The upper critical field anisotropy is determined by a radio frequency technique via the measurements of magnetic penetration depth, $λ$. Both, irreversibility line, $H_{irr}(T)$, and flux creep line, $H^{SPM}(T)$, are obtained by measuring the magnetization. We find that $H_{irr}(T)$ is well described by the Lindemann criterion with parameters similar to…
The influence of the antiferromagnetic order on the superconductor in the mixed state results in creation of spin-flop domains along the cores of the vortex lines. It is shown that this phenomenon makes possible crossover from quantum creep regime to thermal one, and vice versa, at constant temperature. To do this one needs to simply change the intensity or the direction of applied magnetic field in the basal ${\bf ab}$ plane of layered structure.
Pinning and creep determine the current--voltage characteristic of a type II superconductor and thereby its potential for technological applications. The recent development of strong pinning theory provides us with a tool to assess a superconductor's electric properties in a quantitative way. Motivated by the observation of typical excess-current characteristics and field-scaling of critical currents, here, we analyze current--voltage characteristics measured on 2H-NbSe$_2$ and $a$-MoGe type II superconductors within the setting provided by strong pinning theory. The experimentally observed sh…
We report on drastic change of vortex dynamics with increase of quenched disorder: for rather weak disorder we found a single vortex creep regime, which we attribute to a Bragg-glass phase, while for enhanced disorder we found an increase of both the depinning current and activation energy with magnetic field, which we attribute to entangled vortex phase. We also found that introduction of additional defects always increases the depinning current, but it increases activation energy only for elastic vortex creep, while it decreases activation energy for plastic vortex creep.
The surprisingly rapid relaxation of the sustainable current density in the critical state of single crystalline Ba$_{1-x}$K$_{x}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ is investigated for magnetic fields oriented parallel to the c-axis and to the $ab$--plane respectively. Due to the inadequacy of standard analysis procedures developed for flux creep in the high temperature superconducting cuprates, we develop a simple, straightforward data treatment technique that reveals the creep mechanism and the creep exponent $μ$. At low magnetic fields, below the second magnetization peak, $μ$ varies only slightly as functio…
We use Monte Carlo simulations of a coarse grained three dimensional model to demonstrate that the experimentally observed approximate temperature independence of the magnetic creep rate for a broad range of temperatures may be explained in terms of record dynamics, {\it viz.} the dynamical properties of the times at which a stochastic fluctuating signal establishes records.
Two commonly accepted approaches for simulations of thermally-activated vortex motion in superconductors are compared. These are (i) the so-called flux creep approach based on the expression E=vB relating the electric field E to the velocity v of the thermally-activated flux motion and the local flux density B, and (ii) the approach employing a phenomenological nonlinear current-voltage curve, E(j). Our results show that the two approaches give similar but also distinctly different behaviors for the distributions of current and flux density in both a long slab and thin strip geometry. The diff…
Local magnetic relaxation measurements in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-x}$ crystals show evidence for plastic vortex-creep associated with the motion of dislocations in the vortex lattice. This creep mechanism governs the vortex dynamics in a wide range of temperatures and fields below the melting line and above the field corresponding to the peak in the ''fishtail'' magnetization. In this range the activation energy $U_{pl}$, which decreases with field, drops below the elastic (collective) creep activation energy, $U_{el}$, which increases with field. A crossover in flux dynamics from elastic to plasti…
We have found a sharp transition at T_c2=350 mK in the vortex creep rate of a single crystal of (U_1-xTh_x)Be_13 with T_c=523 mK (x=0.0275). For T<<T_c2, no creep of vortices is observed in a time scale of 10^5 s, while for T_c2<T<T_c, vortices creep at very high rates (30 % of decay from a metastable configuration in the first 10^5 s at T=400 mK). The sharp transition occurs at the same temperature at which the second jump in the specific heat appears in these samples. Similar low levels of creep rates have been reported by us in the low-T superconducting phase of UPt_3.
A theoretical study of dynamics of small thermal and electromagnetic perturbations in type-II superconductors in the flux creep regime with a nonlinear current-voltage characteristics is performed. For this purpose, the space-time evolution of temperature and electric field was calculated using the heat diffusion equation, coupled with Maxwell's equations and material law, assuming that the applied magnetic field is directed parallel to the surface of the sample. A threshold field $B_j$ for the occurrence of thermomagnetic instability has been found assuming that the heat flux diffusion is con…
Two-dimensional(2D) vortex dynamics was studied in an YBa_2Cu_3O_7/ PrBa_2Cu_3O_7 superlattice by measuring the I-V characteristics. In the high current limit, 2D collective creep was observed with an activation energy characterized by U(j)=a j^u. A dislocation mediated vortex melting happened when the temperature increased. In the low current limit, the exponential growth of energy barrier for elastic motion was prohibited by the plastic deformation of vortices. A plateau in the resistive transition was observed, which was attributed to possible quantum tunneling of vortices. Our results sugg…
In type-II superconductors exposed to magnetic fields between upper and lower critical values, $H_{c1}$ and $H_{c2}$, penetrating magnetic flux forms a lattice of vortices whose motion can induce dissipation. Consequently, the magnetization $M$ of superconductors is typically progressively weakened with increasing magnetic field $B \propto n_v$ (for vortex density $n_v$). However, some materials exhibit a non-monotonic $M(B)$, presenting a maximum in $M$ at what is known as the second magnetization peak. This phenomenon appears in most classes of superconductors, including low $T_c$ materials,…
The effect of proton irradiation in Ba(Fe0.93Co0.07)2As2 single crystals is reported. We analyze temperature dependence of current density and normalized flux relaxation rate in the framework of collective creep model. Glassy exponent and barrier height for flux creep are directly determined by Maley's method. Our model functions for barrier height and critical current density in the absence of flux creep are explained by the superposition of \deltaTc- and \deltal-pinning. We also approach true critical current density by means of generalized inversion scheme, and the obtained result is in rea…
The flux creep problem for a superconductor slab placed in a constant or time-dependent magnetic field is considered. Logarithmic dependence of the activation energy on the current density is assumed, U=U0 ln(J/Jc), with a field dependent Jc. The density B of the magnetic flux penetrating into the superconductor, is shown to obey a scaling law, i.e., the profiles B(x) at different times can be scaled to a function of a single variable. We found exact solution for the scaling function in some specific cases, and an approximate solution for a general case. The scaling also holds for a slab carry…
We investigated the vortex dynamics in the non-centrosymmetric superconductor Li_2Pt_3B in the temperature range 0.1 K - 2.8 K. Two different logarithmic creep regimes in the decay of the remanent magnetization from the Bean critical state have been observed. In the first regime, the creep rate is extraordinarily small, indicating the existence of a new, very effective pinning mechanism. At a certain time a vortex avalanche occurs that increases the logarithmic creep rate by a factor of about 5 to 10 depending on the temperature. This may indicate that certain barriers against flux motion are …
Order-disorder phase transition and elastic-to-plastic vortex creep crossover in a triclinic iron pnictide superconductor (Ca0.85La0.15)10(Pt3As8)(Fe2As2)5
Systematic ac susceptibility measurements have been performed on a MgB$_2$ bulk sample. We demonstrate that the flux creep activation energy is a nonlinear function of the current density $U(j)\propto j^{-0.2}$, indicating a nonlogarithmic relaxation of the current density in this material. The dependence of the activation energy on the magnetic field is determined to be a power law $U(B)\propto B^{-1.33}$, showing a steep decline in the activation energy with the magnetic field, which accounts for the steep drop in the critical current density with magnetic field that is observed in MgB$_2$. …
In this report, we comprehensively study the effect of H$^+$ irradiation on the critical current density, $J_c$, and vortex pinning in FeSe single crystal. It is found that the value of $J_c$ for FeSe is enhanced more than twice after 3-MeV H$^+$ irradiation. The scaling analyses of the vortex pinning force based on the Dew-Hughes model reveal that the H$^+$ irradiation successfully introduce point pinning centers into the crystal. We also find that the vortex creep rates are strongly suppressed after irradiation. Detailed analyses of the critical current dependent pinning energy based on the …
We discuss and propose a complete data treatment, in close contact to typical microwave experimental data, in order to derive vortex parameters, such as pinning constant and viscous drag coefficient (also referred to as ``vortex viscosity''), in a way as model-independent as possible. We show that many of the accepted models for the complex resistivity can be described by a single, very general analytical expression. Using typical measurements of real and imaginary resistivity as a function of the applied field, we show that, even for single-frequency measurements, it is always possible to obt…
We present an extensive study of vortex dynamics in a high-quality single crystal of HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+δ}$ (Hg1201), a highly anisotropic superconductor that is a model system for studying the effects of anisotropy. From magnetization $M$ measurements over a wide range of temperatures $T$ and fields $H$, we construct a detailed vortex phase diagram. We find that the temperature-dependent vortex penetration field $H_p(T)$, second magnetization peak $H_{smp}(T)$, and irreversibility field $H_{irr}(T)$ all decay exponentially at low temperatures and exhibit an abrupt change in behavior at high temp…
A phenomenological model is proposed for melting of a vortex lattice, based on screening of the elastic shear modulus by mobile or partially pinned dislocations. A first-order softening line is found and ends at a critical point beyond which the lattice crosses over to an hexatic vortex solid. The consequences of softening on vortex dynamics are explored, as fingerprints of plastic dynamics: a reentrance of single vortex behaviour, for both depinning and collective creep, occurs as the field increases, with non-monotonous creep exponents. This general scenario is supported by recent experiment…
A systematic study of I-V characteristic curves for RuSr2GdCu2O8 [Ru-(1212)] is presented, with magnetic fields up to 3 T and 5 K<T<30 K, in the region of the superconducting transition. The activation energy E_{a}(H,T) for flux line depinning was determined by fitting the nonlinear region of the curves using the flux creep model. E_{a}(H,T) was found to vary linearly with temperature, while a power-law dependence on the magnetic field was observed up to H=0.1 T, where an abrupt reduction in its decreasing rate occurs. The extrapolated value, E_{a}(0,0)=50 meV, is twice the reported value for …
In the mixed state of layered superconductor the antiferromagnetic order of magnetic ions can create the spin-flop domains along the phase cores of the Josephson vortices. The paper discusses how this feature affects the macroscopic quantum tunnelling of the Josephson vortices. It is shown that the action and hence the activation energy is rendered temperature dependent so that the quantum tunnelling rate becomes temperature dependent below the crossover temperature. It is also shown that in constant temperature thermal or quantum creep may occur, depending on the direction or intensity of the…
A perturbed system relaxes towards an equilibrium given by a minimum in the potential energy landscape. This often occurs by thermally activated jumps over metastable states. The corresponding dynamics is named creep and follows Arrhenius' law. Here we consider the situation where the equilibrium position depends on temperature. We show that this effect occurs in the vortex lattice of the anisotropic superconductor $2\mathrm{H}$-$\mathrm{Nb}\mathrm{Se}_{2}$ when the magnetic field is tilted away from the principal axes, and that it leads to the peculiar appearance of creep when cooling the sam…
We study thermal effects on pinning and creep in type-II superconductors where vortices interact with a low density $n_p$ of strong point-like defects with pinning energy $e_p$ and extension $ξ$, the vortex core size. Defects are classified as strong if the interaction between a single pin and an individual vortex leads to the appearance of bistable solutions describing pinned and free vortex configurations. Extending the strong pinning theory to account for thermal fluctuations, we provide a quantitative analysis of vortex depinning and creep. We determine the thermally activated transitions …
Flux-creep data was obtained for fields along the second magnetization peak observed in M(H) curves of BaFe{1.9}Ni{0.1}As2 for H||c-axis. H||ab-planes and H forming a 45 degrees angle with ab-planes. The M-H loops from the different field directions can be collapsed onto a universal curve with a scaling factor equivalent to the superconducting anisotropy, showing that the pinning is three dimensional, although with remarkable differences in the vortex-dynamics as a function of field orientation. The resulting relaxation rate, R, when plotted as a function of field and temperature does not show…
We investigate the influence of domain walls on the vortex dynamics in superconductors with multi-component order parameters. We show that, due to their complex structure domain walls can carry vortices with fractional flux quanta. The decay of conventional vortices into fractional ones on domain walls is examined. This decay presents an extraordinarily strong pinning mechanism for vortices and turns domain walls occupied with pinned fractional vortices into efficient barriers for the vortex motion. Therefore, domain walls can act as fences for the flux flow, preventing the decay of the remnan…
Higher critical currents yet faster vortex creep in EuBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_y$ films containing coherent artificial pinning centers
University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；Seikei University（圣心女子大学）；Japan Fine Ceramics Center（日本精细陶瓷中心）；National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology（产业技术综合研究所）
Detailed measurements of the global and local electromagnetic properties of Ba(Fe$_{0.93}$Co$_{0.07}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ single crystals are reported. Analysis of the irreversible magnetic response provides strong evidence for similar vortex physics in this Fe-based pnictide superconductor to the high-$T_{c}$ cuprates, such as Y-Ba-Cu-O or Nd-Ce-Cu-O. In particular, we have found a nonmonotonic "fishtail" magnetization in $M(H,T=const)$ loops and its signature is also present in $M(H=const,T)$ scans. The supercurrent density is evaluated by using several techniques, including direct transport meas…
We present a comprehensive study of the vortex pinning and dynamics in a high-quality FeSe single crystal, which is free from doping introduced inhomogeneities and charged quasi-particle-scattering because of its innate superconductivity. Critical current density, $J_c$, is found to be almost isotropic, and reaches a value $\sim$ 3 $\times$ 10$^4$ A/cm$^2$ at 2 K (self-field) for both $H$ $\|$ $c$ and $ab$. The normalized magnetic relaxation rate $S$ (= $\mid$dln$M$/dln$t$$\mid$) shows a temperature insensitive plateau behavior in the intermediate temperature range with a relatively high creep…
We present an extensive study of the vortex dynamics in Li$_{0.8}$Fe$_{0.2}$OHFeSe single crystal, which is prepared by intercalating insulating spacer layer Li$_{0.8}$Fe$_{0.2}$OH into FeSe. Absence of fishtail effect and the crossover from elastic to plastic creep are observed similar to the parent compound FeSe. However, when we apply collective creep theory to the magnetic relaxation data, the obtained creep exponent $μ$ is found to be $\sim$ 4.1 much larger than the predicted maximum value. Besides, the elastic creep in the vortex phase diagram of Li$_{0.8}$Fe$_{0.2}$OHFeSe is found to re…
We simulated the creep motions of flux lines subject to randomly distributed point-like pinning centers. It is found that at low temperatures, the pinning barrier $U$ defined in the Arrhenius-type $v-F$ characteristics increases with decreasing force $U(F) \propto F^{-μ}$, as predicted by previous theories. The exponent $μ$ is evaluated as $0.28\pm 0.02 $ for the vortex glass and $μ\simeq 0.5\pm 0.02$ for the Bragg glass (BrG). The latter is in good agreement with the prediction by the scaling theory and the functional-renormalization-group theory on creep, while the former is a new estimate. …
We have studied vortex pinning and dynamics in a Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 superconducting tape with critical current density Jc~0.1 MA/cm2 at 4.2 K and 10 T. It is found that grain boundary pinning is dominant in the vortex pinning mechanism. Furthermore, we observe large density of dislocations which can also serve as effective pinning centers. We find that the temperature dependence of critical current density is in agreement with the model of vortices pinned via spatial fluctuation of charge carrier mean free path. Magnetic relaxation measurement indicates that the magnetization depends on time in a…
It is argued that the stress caused by vortex cores in the mixed state of superconductors may result in a field dependent contribution to the free energy and magnetization of measurable levels. For sufficiently strong stress dependence of the critical temperature, $\partial T_c/\partial p$, this contribution may result in the so-called "second peak" in the field dependence of the reversible magnetization, the effect often masked by vortex pinning and creep.
We show that the size effects radically affect the electric field-current ($E-I$) relation of superconducting films. We calculate $E(J)$ due to thermally-activated hopping of single vortices driven by current $I$ across the film in a magnetic field $H$, taking into account interaction of free vortices with their antivortex images and peaks in the Meissner currents at the film edges. Unbinding of virtual vortex-antivortex pairs not only mimics the transport uniform BKT behavior, it can dominate the observed $E(J)$ and result in the field-dependent ohmic resistance at small $I$. We show that $E(…
The paper reviews a concept of induced spin-flop domain inside vortices in an antiferromagnetic superconductor. Such phenomenon may occur when an external magnetic field is strong enough to flip over magnetic moments in the core of the vortex from their ground state configuration. The formation of the domain structure inside vortices modifies the surface energy barrier of the superconductor. During this process the entrance of the flux is stopped and a newly created state exhibits perfect shielding. Such behavior should be visible as a plateau on the dependence of flux density as a function of…
We study the vortex-dynamics of a BaFe{1.82}Ni_{0.18}As_2 crystal with Tc = 8 K, by measuring flux-creep over the second magnetisation (or fish-tail) peak for both H//c-axis and H//ab planes. Magnetic relaxation data show an anomalously long initial stage of relaxation, lasting approximately10 minutes for H//c-axis and 2-3 min for H//ab, resembling a transient effect with a lower relaxation rate, which is followed by the usual log(time) relaxation. Interestingly, study of the relaxation rate R vs H for both stages of relaxation and for both field directions, are featureless over the field rang…
The problem of the vortex structure in the lattice modele of superconductors has been reduced to the nonlinear map problem characteristic for the fractal theory.
Magnetic response of a superconductor depends on the thermodynamic stability of vortex in the material. Here we show that the vortex stability has a close relation with the ratio of the magnetic field at the vortex core center to the thermodynamic critical field. This finding provides a new criterion for the classification of the superconductors according to their magnetic responses.
The vortex-vortex interaction potential in bulk superconductors is calculated within the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory and is obtained from a numerical solution of a set of two coupled non-linear GL differential equations for the vector potential and the superconducting order parameter, where the merger of vortices into a giant vortex is allowed. Further, the interaction potentials between a vortex and a giant vortex and between a vortex and an antivortex are obtained for both type-I and type-II superconductors. Our numerical results agree asymptotically with the analytical expressions for large…
In this work we will introduce the A-V-A formulation based iterative algorithm method (IAM) for simulating the magnetization current of high temperature superconductors. This new method embedded in ANSYS can simulate the critical state model by forcing the trapped current density to the critical current density Jc for all meshed superconducting elements after each iterative load step, as well as simulate the flux creep model by updating the E-J power law based resistivity values. The simulation results of a disk-shaped ReBCO bulk during zero field cooling (ZFC) or field cooling (FC) magnetizat…
The remarkable phenomenon of weak magnetization hysteresis loops, observed recently deep in the vortex-liquid state of a nearly two-dimensional (2D) superconductor at low temperatures, is shown to reflect the existence of an unusual vortex-liquid state, consisting of collectively pinned crystallites of easily sliding vortex chains.
It is shown that there are three kinds of vortices in a superconductor; a vortex with the fluxoid quantum 1 (VF), a new vortex with 0 (VZF), and a vortex with -1 (VAF), respectively. The Hall field via three vortices is studied and found to change its sign, depending of the relative strength of contributions via VF and VAF, similar to that of a system with two kinds of carriers. VZF is suggested to act as a domain wall between VF and VAF regions, accounting for the flux and antiflux regions observed in Nb films.
Using dynamic cantilever magnetometry, we study the vortex lattice and its corresponding melting transition in a micrometer-size crystallite of superconducting NbSe2. Measurements of the cantilever resonance frequency as a function of magnetic field and temperature respond to the magnetization of the vortex-lattice. The cantilever dissipation depends on thermally activated vortex creep motion, whose pinning energy barrier is found to be in good agreement with transport measurements on bulk samples. This approach reveals the phase diagram of the crystallite, and is applicable to other micro- or…
Abrikosov vortex melting in high-temperature superconductors of ErBa2Cu3O7-δ system is investigated using mechanical contactless method of energy dissipation.
We studied strong-coupling effect upon an isolated vortex in a two-dimensional chiral p-wave superconductor. We solved the Eilenberger equation for the quasiclassical Green's functions and the Eliashberg equation with single mode Einstein boson self-consistently. We calculated the free-energy of each obtained vortex, and found that a non-axisymmetric vortex metastably exists in some situation.
