Disorder-induced decoupling of pancake vortices in a layered superconductor

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.53.2786· OSTI ID:278714

Koshelev, A E ^[1]; Glazman, L I ^[2]; Larkin, A I ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
2. Theoretical Physics Institute, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (United States)

We consider the effect of pancake vortices induced by a magnetic field on the Josephson coupling in a disordered, layered superconductor. Due to the random displacements of vortices, the magnetic field suppresses the Josephson coupling. We find the characteristic value of the {open_quote}{open_quote}decoupling{close_quote}{close_quote} field. The effective Josephson energy does not drop to zero above this field, but saturates at some small value and remains field independent in the regime of individual pinning. Crossover to the collective pinning regime at higher fields and temperatures leads to partial restoration of the Josephson energy. We studied also the influence of the pancake wandering on the field distribution inside the superconductor. We found that the feature which is most sensitive to the pancake misalignment is the large field tail in the distribution function. We show that the asymmetry of the field distribution induced by this tail disappears at fields substantially smaller than the decoupling field. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 278714
• Journal Information: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter, Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 53; ISSN 0163-1829; ISSN PRBMDO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
COUPLING
CRITICAL CURRENT
HIGH-TC SUPERCONDUCTORS
JOSEPHSON EFFECT
LAYERED CRYSTALS
LAYERS
MAGNETIC FLUX
PINNING
RANDOMNESS
VORTICES