553 research outputs found
Dynamic reorganization of vortex matter into partially disordered lattices
We report structural evidence of dynamic reorganization in vortex matter in
clean NbSe by joint small angle neutron scattering and ac-susceptibility
measurements. The application of oscillatory forces in a transitional region
near the order-disorder transition results in robust bulk vortex lattice
configurations with an intermediate degree of disorder. These
dynamically-originated configurations correlate with intermediate pinning
responses previously observed, resolving a long standing debate regarding the
origin of such responses.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. To be published in Physical Review Letter
Exploring the fragile antiferromagnetic superconducting phase in CeCoIn5
CeCoIn5 is a heavy fermion Type-II superconductor which exhibits clear
indications of Pauli-limited superconductivity. A variety of measurements give
evidence for a transition at high magnetic fields inside the superconducting
state, when the field is applied either parallel to or perpendicular to the c
axis. When the field is perpendicular to the c axis, antiferromagnetic order is
observed on the high-field side of the transition, with a magnetic wavevector
of (q q 0.5), where q = 0.44 reciprocal lattice units. We show that this order
remains as the magnetic field is rotated out of the basal plane, but the
associated moment eventually disappears above 17 degrees, indicating that the
anomalies seen with the field parallel to the c axis are not related to this
magnetic order. We discuss the implications of this finding.Comment: Accepted Physical Review Letters, September 2010. 4 pages, 4 figure
Temperature Dependence of the Flux Line Lattice Transition into Square Symmetry in Superconducting LuNiBC
We have investigated the temperature dependence of the H || c flux line
lattice structural phase transition from square to hexagonal symmetry, in the
tetragonal superconductor LuNi_2B_2C (T_c = 16.6 K). At temperatures below 10 K
the transition onset field, H_2(T), is only weakly temperature dependent. Above
10 K, H_2(T) rises sharply, bending away from the upper critical field. This
contradicts theoretical predictions of H_2(T) merging with the upper critical
field, and suggests that just below the H_c2(T)-curve the flux line lattice
might be hexagonal.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Non-equilibrium structural phase transitions of the vortex lattice in MgB2
We have studied non-equilibrium phase transitions in the vortex lattice in
superconducting MgB2, where metastable states are observed in connection with
an intrinsically continuous rotation transition. Using small-angle neutron
scattering and a stop-motion technique, we investigated the manner in which the
metastable vortex lattice returns to the equilibrium state under the influence
of an ac magnetic field. This shows a qualitative difference between the
supercooled case which undergoes a discontinuous transition, and the
superheated case where the transition to the equilibrium state is continuous.
In both cases the transition may be described by an an activated process, with
an activation barrier that increases as the metastable state is suppressed, as
previously reported for the supercooled vortex lattice [E. R. Louden et al.,
Phys. Rev. B 99, 060502(R) (2019)]. Separate preparations of superheated
metastable vortex lattices with different domain populations showed an
identical transition towards the equilibrium state. This provides further
evidence that the vortex lattice metastability, and the kinetics associated
with the transition to the equilibrium state, is governed by nucleation and
growth of domains and the associated domain boundaries.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1812.0597
Interdependence of magnetism and superconductivity in the borocarbide TmNi2B2C
We have discovered a new antiferromagnetic phase in TmNi2B2C by neutron
diffraction. The ordering vector is Q_A = (0.48,0,0) and the phase appears
above a critical in-plane magnetic field of 0.9 T. The field was applied in
order to test the assumption that the zero-field magnetic structure at Q_F =
(0.094,0.094,0) would change into a c-axis ferromagnet if superconductivity
were destroyed. We present theoretical calculations which show that two effects
are important: A suppression of the ferromagnetic component of the RKKY
exchange interaction in the superconducting phase, and a reduction of the
superconducting condensation energy due to the periodic modulation of the
moments at the wave vector Q_A
Spin Susceptibility of the Topological Superconductor UPt3 from Polarized Neutron Diffraction
Experiment and theory indicate that UPt3 is a topological superconductor in
an odd-parity state, based in part from temperature independence of the NMR
Knight shift. However, quasiparticle spin-flip scattering near a surface, where
the Knight shift is measured, might be responsible. We use polarized neutron
scattering to measure the bulk susceptibility with H||c, finding consistency
with the Knight shift but inconsistent with theory for this field orientation.
We infer that neither spin susceptibility nor Knight shift are a reliable
indication of odd-parity
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