30 research outputs found
Elastic-to-plastic crossover below the peak effect in the vortex solid of YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals
We report on transport and ac susceptibility studies below the peak effect in
twinned YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals. We find that disorder generated at the peak
effect can be partially inhibited by forcing vortices to move with an ac
driving current. The vortex system can be additionally ordered below a
well-defined temperature where elastic interactions between vortices overcome
pinning-generated stress and a plastic to elastic crossover seems to occur. The
combined effect of these two processes results in vortex structures with
different mobilities that give place to history effects.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Published in PRB Rapid Comm., February 1, 200
Qualidade de maçãs cv. gala armazenadas em diferentes pressões parciais de O2 e CO2
Phase Behavior of Type-II Superconductors with Quenched Point Pinning Disorder: A Phenomenological Proposal
A general phenomenology for phase behaviour in the mixed phase of type-II
superconductors with weak point pinning disorder is outlined. We propose that
the ``Bragg glass'' phase generically transforms via two separate thermodynamic
phase transitions into a disordered liquid on increasing the temperature. The
first transition is into a glassy phase, topologically disordered at the
largest length scales; current evidence suggests that it lacks the long-ranged
phase correlations expected of a ``vortex glass''. This phase has a significant
degree of short-ranged translational order, unlike the disordered liquid, but
no quasi-long range order, in contrast to the Bragg glass. This glassy phase,
which we call a ``multi-domain glass'', is confined to a narrow sliver at
intermediate fields, but broadens out both for much larger and much smaller
field values. The multi-domain glass may be a ``hexatic glass''; alternatively,
its glassy properties may originate in the replica symmetry breaking envisaged
in recent theories of the structural glass transition. Estimates for
translational correlation lengths in the multi-domain glass indicate that they
can be far larger than the interline spacing for weak disorder, suggesting a
plausible mechanism by which signals of a two-step transition can be obscured.
Calculations of the Bragg glass-multi-domain glass and the multi-domain
glass-disordered liquid phase boundaries are presented and compared to
experimental data. We argue that these proposals provide a unified picture of
the available experimental data on both high-T and low-T materials,
simulations and current theoretical understanding.Comment: 70 pages, 9 postscript figures, modified title and minor changes in
published versio