Two-Step Melting of the Vortex Solid in Layered Superconductors with Random Columnar Pins

Chandan Dasgupta; Oriol T. Valls

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.127002

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Two-Step Melting of the Vortex Solid in Layered Superconductors with Random Columnar Pins

Chandan Dasgupta, Oriol T. Valls

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.127002 · Physical Review Letters

T1

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Abstract

We consider the melting of the vortex solid in highly anisotropic layered superconductors with a small concentration of random columnar pinning centers. Using large-scale numerical minimization of a free-energy functional, we find that melting of the low-temperature, nearly crystalline vortex solid (Bragg glass) into a vortex liquid occurs in two steps as the temperature increases: the Bragg glass and liquid phases are separated by an intermediate Bose glass phase. A suitably defined local melting temperature exhibits spatial variation similar to that observed in experiments.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

Formula	Reported Tc (K)	Pressure (GPa)	Type
Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8-δ Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	85	Pressure not reported	unknown