How the vortex lattice of a superconductor becomes disordered: a study by scanning tunneling spectroscopy.

ABSTRACT: Order-disorder transitions take place in many physical systems, but observing them in detail in real materials is difficult. In two- or quasi-two-dimensional systems, the transition has been studied by computer simulations and experimentally in electron sheets, dusty plasmas, colloidal and other systems. Here I show the different stages of defect formation in the vortex lattice of a superconductor while it undergoes an order-disorder transition by presenting real-space images of the lattice from scanning tunneling spectroscopy. When the system evolves from the ordered to the disordered state, the predominant kind of defect changes from dislocation pairs to single dislocations, and finally to defect clusters forming grain boundaries. Correlation functions indicate a hexatic-like state prece

SUBMITTER: Zehetmayer M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5378196 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature