Sublimated decoupling of the vortex lattice in extreme type-II layered superconductors

J. P. Rodriguez

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.66.214506

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Sublimated decoupling of the vortex lattice in extreme type-II layered superconductors

J. P. Rodriguez

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.66.214506 · Physical Review B

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Abstract

The question of whether layer decoupling and vortex-lattice melting occur separately or not in the mixed phase of pristine layered superconductors in the extreme type-II limit is studied through a partial duality analysis of the layered XY model with uniform frustration. We find that both transitions occur simultaneously if the normal/superconducting transition of the vortex lattice in an isolated layer is first order and if a sufficient degree of layer anisotropy exists. We also find that a crossover to a highly entangled vortex lattice phase with relatively low phase rigidity across layers does not occur in practice under any circumstances at temperatures below the two-dimensional vortex-lattice melting transition.