Melting of "porous" vortex matter.
Bitter decoration and magneto-optical studies reveal that in heavy-ion irradiated superconductors, a "porous" vortex matter is formed when vortices outnumber columnar defects. In this state ordered vortex crystallites are embedded in the "pores" of a rigid matrix of vortices pinned on columnar defects. The crystallites melt through a first-order transition while the matrix remains solid. The melting temperature increases with density of columnar defects and eventually turns into a continuous transition. At high temperatures a sharp kink in the melting line is found, signaling an abrupt change from crystallite melting to melting of the rigid matrix.
Banerjee
S S
SS
Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Soibel
A
A
Myasoedov
Y
Y
Rappaport
M
M
Zeldov
E
E
Menghini
M
M
Fasano
Y
Y
de la Cruz
F
F
van der Beek
C J
CJ
Konczykowski
M
M
Tamegai
T
T