Real-space vortex glass imaging and the vortex phase diagram of SnMo6S8.
Using scanning tunneling microscopy at 400 mK, we have obtained maps of around 100 vortices in SnMo(6)S(8) from 2-9 T. The orientational and positional disorder at 5 and 9 T show that these are the first large-scale images of a vortex glass. At higher temperature a magnetization peak effect is observed, whose upper boundary coincides with a lambda anomaly in the specific heat. Our data favor a kinetic glass description of the vortex melting transition, indicating that vortex topological disorder persists at fields and temperatures far below the peak effect in low-T(c) superconductors.
Petrović
A P
AP
DPMC-MaNEP, Université de Genève, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 24, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland.
Fasano
Y
Y
Lortz
R
R
Senatore
C
C
Demuer
A
A
Antunes
A B
AB
Paré
A
A
Salloum
D
D
Gougeon
P
P
Potel
M
M
Fischer
Ø
Ø