title: Visualizing the morphology of vortex lattice domains in a bulk type-II superconductor.
abstract: Alike materials in the solid state, the phase diagram of type-II superconductors exhibit crystalline, amorphous, liquid and spatially inhomogeneous phases. The multitude of different phases of vortex matter has thence proven to act as almost ideal model system for the study of both the underlying properties of superconductivity but also of general phenomena such as domain nucleation and morphology. Here we show how neutron grating interferometry yields detailed information on the vortex lattice and its domain structure in the intermediate mixed state of a type-II niobium superconductor. In particular, we identify the nucleation regions, how the intermediate mixed state expands, and where it finally evolves into the Shubnikov phase. Moreover, we complement the results obtained from neutron grating interferometry by small-angle neutron scattering that confirm the spatially resolved morphology found in the intermediate mixed state, and very small-angle neutron scattering that confirm the domain structure of the vortex lattice.
authors.affiliation: Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.|Physik-Department E21, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reimann
authors.affiliation: Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mühlbauer
authors.affiliation: Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.|Physik-Department E21, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.affiliation: Paul Scherrer Institut, Neutron Imaging and Activation Group, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Betz
authors.affiliation: Paul Scherrer Institut, Neutron Imaging and Activation Group, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaestner
authors.affiliation: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pipich
authors.affiliation: Physik-Department E21, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Böni
authors.affiliation: Paul Scherrer Institut, Neutron Imaging and Activation Group, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grünzweig