Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Surface instabilities and vortex transport in current-carrying superconductors

Journal Article · · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter
 [1];  [2]
  1. Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900 (Israel)
  2. Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)

We investigate the stability of the vortex configuration in thin superconducting films and layered Josephson-coupled superconductors under an applied current analytically and by numerical simulations of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation. We show that the stationary vortex lattice becomes unstable with respect to long-wavelength perturbations above some critical current I{sub c}. We find that at currents slightly exceeding I{sub c} the vortex phase develops plastic flow, where large coherent pieces of the lattice are separated by lines of defects and slide with respect to each other. At elevated currents a transition to elastic flow is observed. We obtained the effective one-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau equation for a description of the vortex penetration from the edges. We discuss this transition in terms of a one-dimensional phase-slip phenomenon in superconducting wires with a periodically modulated temperature. We found several distinct dynamic vortex phases in the layered current-carrying superconductors. We show that for some intermediate range of the current, depending on the coupling between the layers, the coherent motion of the pancake vortices in different layers becomes unstable leading to dynamic decoupling. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}

OSTI ID:
568322
Journal Information:
Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter, Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 57; ISSN PRBMDO; ISSN 0163-1829
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Surface Instabilities and Plastic Deformation of Vortex Lattices
Journal Article · Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · Physical Review Letters · OSTI ID:388365

Phase diagram for a driven vortex lattice in layered superconductors
Journal Article · Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997 · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter · OSTI ID:560623

Vortex lattice for a holographic superconductor
Journal Article · Thu Jan 14 23:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields · OSTI ID:21409121