No Arabic abstract
It is commonly accepted that the peak effect (PE) in the critical current density of type II superconductors is a consequence of an order-disorder transition in the vortex lattice (VL). Examination of vortex lattice configurations (VLCs) in its vicinity requires the use of experimental techniques that exclude current induced VL reorganization. By means of linear ac susceptibility experiments in the Campbell regime, where vortices are forced to oscillate (harmonically) around their effective pinning potentials, we explore quasi-static stable and metastable VLCs in NbSe_{2} single crystals near the PE. We identify three different regions: for T<T_{1}(H), stable VLCs are maximally ordered. For T>T_{2}(H) configurations are fully disordered and no metastability is observed. In the T_{1}<T<T_{2} region we find temperature dependent stable configurations with intermediate degree of disorder, possibly associated to coexistence of ordered and disordered lattices throughout the PE. A simple estimation of the equilibrium proportion of ordered and disordered domains is provided.
Particles occupying sites of a random lattice present density fluctuations at all length scales. It has been proposed that increasing interparticle interactions reduces long range density fluctuations, deviating from random behaviour. This leads to power laws in the structure factor and the number variance that can be used to characterize deviations from randomness which eventually lead to disordered hyperuniformity. It is not yet fully clear how to link density fluctuations with interactions in a disordered hyperuniform system. Interactions between superconducting vortices are very sensitive to vortex pinning, to the crystal structure of the superconductor and to the value of the magnetic field. This creates lattices with different degrees of disorder. Here we study disordered vortex lattices in several superconducting compounds (Co-doped NbSe$_2$, LiFeAs and CaKFe$_4$As$_4$) and in two amorphous W-based thin films, one with strong nanostructured pinning (W-film-1) and another one with weak or nearly absent pinning (W-film-2). We calculate for each case the structure factor and number variance and compare to calculations on an interacting set of partially pinned particles. We find that random density fluctuations appear when pinning overcomes interactions and show that the suppression of density fluctuations is indeed correlated to the presence of interactions. Furthermore, we find that we can describe all studied vortex lattices within a single framework consisting of a continous deviation from hyperuniformity towards random distributions when increasing the strength of pinning with respect to the intervortex interaction.
We report structural evidence of dynamic reorganization in vortex matter in clean NbSe$_2$ 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.
We have investigated the magnetization properties and flux dynamics of superconducting Cu$_x$TiSe$_2$ single crystals within wide range of copper concentrations. We find that the superconducting anisotropy is low and independent on copper concentration ($gammasim1.7$), except in the case of strongly underdoped samples ($xleq0.06$) that show a gradual increase in anisotropy to $gammasim1.9$. The vortex phase diagram in this material is characterized by broad region of vortex liquid phase that is unusual for such low-$T_c$ superconductor with low anisotropy. Below the irreversibility line the vortex solid state supports relatively low critical current densities as compared to the depairing current limit ($J_c/J_0sim10^{-7}$). All this points out that local fluctuations in copper concentration have little effect on bulk pinning properties in this system.
We investigate the vortex dynamics in two typical hole doped iron based superconductors CaKFe$_4$As$_4$ (CaK1144) and Ba$_{0.6}$K$_{0.4}$Fe$_2$As$_2$ (BaK122) with similar superconducting transition temperatures. It is found that the magnetization hysteresis loop exhibits a clear second peak effect in BaK122 in wide temperature region while it is absent in CaK1144. However, a second peak effect of critical current density versus temperature is observed in CaK1144, which is however absent in BaK122. The different behaviors of second peak effect in BaK122 and CaK1144 may suggest distinct origins of vortex pinning in different systems. Magnetization and its relaxation have also been measured by using dynamical and conventional relaxation methods for both systems. Analysis and comparison of the two distinct systems show that the vortex pinning is stronger and the critical current density is higher in BaK122 system. It is found that the Maleys method can be used and thus the activation energy can be determined in BaK122 by using the time dependent magnetization in wide temperature region, but this is not applicable in CaK1144 systems. Finally we present the different regimes with distinct vortex dynamics in the field-temperature diagram for the two systems.
We report on the degree of order of the vortex solid in YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals observed in ac susceptibility measurements. We show that when vortices are shaken by a temporarily symmetric ac field they are driven into an easy-to-move, ordered structure but, on the contrary, when the ac field is temporarily asymmetric, they are driven into a more pinned disordered state. This is characteristic of tearing of the vortex lattice and shows that ordering due to symmetric ac fields is essentially different from an equilibration process or a dynamical crystallization that is expected to occur at high driving currents.