Magnetoinductance of Josephson junction array with frozen vortex diffusion

The dependence of sheet impedance of a Josephson junction array on the applied magnetic field is investigated in the regime when vortex diffusion between array plaquettes is effectively frozen due to low enough temperature. The field dependent contribution to sheet inductance is found to be proportional to f*ln(1/f), where f<<1 is the magnitude of the field expressed in terms of flux quanta per plaquette.Comment: 5 pages, no figure

Conformal Anomaly and Critical Exponents of the XY-Ising Model

We use extensive Monte Carlo transfer matrix calculations on infinite strips of widths $L$ up to 30 lattice spacing and a finite-size scaling analysis to obtain critical exponents and conformal anomaly number $c$ for the two-dimensional $XY$-Ising model. This model is expected to describe the critical behavior of a class of systems with simultaneous $U(1)$ and $Z_2$ symmetries of which the fully frustrated $XY$ model is a special case. The effective values obtained for $c$ show a significant decrease with $L$ at different points along the line where the transition to the ordered phase takes place in a single transition. Extrapolations based on power-law corrections give values consistent with $c=3/2$ although larger values can not be ruled out. Critical exponents are obtained more accurately and are consistent with previous Monte Carlo simulations suggesting new critical behavior and with recent calculations for the frustrated $XY$ model.Comment: 33 pages, 13 latex figures, uses RevTeX 3.

Critical behavior of Josephson-junction arrays at f=1/2

The critical behavior of frustrated Josephson-junction arrays at $f=1/2$ flux quantum per plaquette is considered. Results from Monte Carlo simulations and transfer matrix computations support the identification of the critical behavior of the square and triangular classical arrays and the one-dimensional quantum ladder with the universality class of the XY-Ising model. In the quantum ladder, the transition can happen either as a simultaneous ordering of the $Z_2$ and $U(1)$ order parameters or in two separate stages, depending on the ratio between interchain and intrachain Josephson couplings. For the classical arrays, weak random plaquette disorder acts like a random field and positional disorder as random bonds on the $Z_2$ variables. Increasing positional disorder decouples the $Z_2$ and $U(1)$ variables leading to the same critical behavior as for integer $f$.Comment: 9 pages, Latex, workshop on JJA, to appear in Physica

Critical behavior of the frustrated antiferromagnetic six-state clock model on a triangular lattice

We study the anti-ferromagnetic six-state clock model with nearest neighbor interactions on a triangular lattice with extensive Monte-Carlo simulations. We find clear indications of two phase transitions at two different temperatures: Below $T_I$ a chirality order sets in and by a thorough finite size scaling analysis of the specific heat and the chirality correlation length we show that this transition is in the Ising universality class (with a non-vanishing chirality order parameter below $T_I$). At $T_{KT}(<T_I)$ the spin-spin correlation length as well as the spin susceptibility diverges according to a Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) form and spin correlations decay algebraically below $T_{KT}$. We compare our results to recent x-ray diffraction experiments on the orientational ordering of CF$_3$Br monolayers physisorbed on graphite. We argue that the six-state clock model describes the universal feature of the phase transition in the experimental system and that the orientational ordering belongs to the KT universality class.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

The types of Mott insulator

There are two classes of Mott insulators in nature, distinguished by their responses to weak doping. With increasing chemical potential, Type I Mott insulators undergo a first order phase transition from the undoped to the doped phase. In the presence of long-range Coulomb interactions, this leads to an inhomogeneous state exhibiting ``micro-phase separation.'' In contrast, in Type II Mott insulators charges go in continuously above a critical chemical potential. We show that if the insulating state has a broken symmetry, this increases the likelihood that it will be Type I. There exists a close analogy between these two types of Mott insulators and the familiar Type I and Type II superconductors

Phase transitions in a frustrated XY model with zig-zag couplings

We study a new generalized version of the square-lattice frustrated XY model where unequal ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic couplings are arranged in a zig-zag pattern. The ratio between the couplings $\rho$ can be used to tune the system, continuously, from the isotropic square-lattice to the triangular-lattice frustrated XY model. The model can be physically realized as a Josephson-junction array with two different couplings, in a magnetic field corresponding to half-flux quanta per plaquette. Mean-field approximation, Ginzburg-Landau expansion and finite-size scaling of Monte Carlo simulations are used to study the phase diagram and critical behavior. Depending on the value of $\rho$, two separate transitions or a transition line in the universality class of the XY-Ising model, with combined $Z_2$ and U(1) symmetries, takes place. In particular, the phase transitions of the standard square-lattice and triangular-lattice frustrated XY models correspond to two different cuts through the same transition line. Estimates of the chiral ($Z_2$) critical exponents on this transition line deviate significantly from the pure Ising values, consistent with that along the critical line of the XY-Ising model. This suggests that a frustrated XY model or Josephson-junction array with a zig-zag coupling modulation can provide a physical realization of the XY-Ising model critical line.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, RevTex, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Frustrated two-dimensional Josephson junction array near incommensurability

To study the properties of frustrated two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays near incommensurability, we examine the current-voltage characteristics of a square proximity-coupled Josephson junction array at a sequence of frustrations f=3/8, 8/21, 0.382 $(\approx (3-\sqrt{5})/2)$, 2/5, and 5/12. Detailed scaling analyses of the current-voltage characteristics reveal approximately universal scaling behaviors for f=3/8, 8/21, 0.382, and 2/5. The approximately universal scaling behaviors and high superconducting transition temperatures indicate that both the nature of the superconducting transition and the vortex configuration near the transition at the high-order rational frustrations f=3/8, 8/21, and 0.382 are similar to those at the nearby simple frustration f=2/5. This finding suggests that the behaviors of Josephson junction arrays in the wide range of frustrations might be understood from those of a few simple rational frustrations.Comment: RevTex4, 4 pages, 4 eps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Transverse phase-locking in fully frustrated Josephson junction arrays: a new type of fractional giant steps

We study, analytically and numerically, phase locking of driven vortex lattices in fully-frustrated Josephson junction arrays at zero temperature. We consider the case when an ac current is applied {\it perpendicular} to a dc current. We observe phase locking, steps in the current-voltage characteristics, with a dependence on external ac-drive amplitude and frequency qualitatively different from the Shapiro steps, observed when the ac and dc currents are applied in parallel. Further, the critical current increases with increasing transverse ac-drive amplitude, while it decreases for longitudinal ac-drive. The critical current and the phase-locked current step width, increase quadratically with (small) amplitudes of the ac-drive. For larger amplitudes of the transverse ac-signal, we find windows where the critical current is hysteretic, and windows where phase locking is suppressed due to dynamical instabilities. We characterize the dynamical states around the phase-locking interference condition in the $IV$ curve with voltage noise, Lyapunov exponents and Poincar\'e sections. We find that zero temperature phase-locking behavior in large fully frustrated arrays is well described by an effective four plaquette model.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure

Nonperturbative renormalization group approach to frustrated magnets

This article is devoted to the study of the critical properties of classical XY and Heisenberg frustrated magnets in three dimensions. We first analyze the experimental and numerical situations. We show that the unusual behaviors encountered in these systems, typically nonuniversal scaling, are hardly compatible with the hypothesis of a second order phase transition. We then review the various perturbative and early nonperturbative approaches used to investigate these systems. We argue that none of them provides a completely satisfactory description of the three-dimensional critical behavior. We then recall the principles of the nonperturbative approach - the effective average action method - that we have used to investigate the physics of frustrated magnets. First, we recall the treatment of the unfrustrated - O(N) - case with this method. This allows to introduce its technical aspects. Then, we show how this method unables to clarify most of the problems encountered in the previous theoretical descriptions of frustrated magnets. Firstly, we get an explanation of the long-standing mismatch between different perturbative approaches which consists in a nonperturbative mechanism of annihilation of fixed points between two and three dimensions. Secondly, we get a coherent picture of the physics of frustrated magnets in qualitative and (semi-) quantitative agreement with the numerical and experimental results. The central feature that emerges from our approach is the existence of scaling behaviors without fixed or pseudo-fixed point and that relies on a slowing-down of the renormalization group flow in a whole region in the coupling constants space. This phenomenon allows to explain the occurence of generic weak first order behaviors and to understand the absence of universality in the critical behavior of frustrated magnets.Comment: 58 pages, 15 PS figure