Thermal fluctuations, quenched disorder, phase transitions, and transport in type-II superconductors

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.43.130· OSTI ID:5986153

Fisher, D S ^[1]; Fisher, M P.A. ^[2]; Huse, D A ^[3]

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1. Physics Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (USA)
2. IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, P.O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, NY (USA)
3. AT T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ (USA)

The effects of thermal fluctuations, quenched disorder, and anisotropy on the phases and phase transitions in type-II superconductors are examined, focusing on linear and nonlinear transport properties. In zero magnetic field there are two crossovers upon approaching {ital T}{sub {ital c}}, first the Ginzburg'' crossover from mean-field behavior to the universality class of an uncharged superfluid, and then, much closer to {ital T}{sub {ital c}} for strongly type-II systems, a crossover to the universality class of a charged superfluid. The primary focus of this paper is on the behavior in the presence of a penetrating magnetic field. In a clean system the vortex-lattice phase can melt due to thermal fluctuations; we estimate the phase boundary in a variety of regimes. Pinning of vortices due to impurities or other defects destroys the long-range correlations of the vortex lattice, probably replacing it with a new vortex-glass phase that has spin-glasslike off-diagonal long-range order and is truly superconducting, in contrast to conventional theories of flux creep.'' The properties of this vortex-glass phase are examined, as well as the critical behavior near the transition from the vortex-glass to the vortex-fluid phase. The crossover from lattice to vortex-glass behavior for weak pinning is also examined. Linear and nonlinear conductivity measurements and other experiments on the high-{ital T}{sub {ital c}} superconductors Y-Ba-Cu-O and Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O are discussed in light of the results. The latter is found to exhibit strongly two-dimensional behavior over large portions of its phase diagram.

• OSTI ID: 5986153
• Journal Information: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (USA), Vol. 43:1; ISSN 0163-1829
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
TYPE-II SUPERCONDUCTORS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
ANISOTROPY
BARIUM OXIDES
BISMUTH OXIDES
CALCIUM OXIDES
COPPER OXIDES
FLUCTUATIONS
HIGH-TC SUPERCONDUCTORS
IMPURITIES
MAGNETIC FLUX
MEISSNER-OCHSENFELD EFFECT
PENETRATION DEPTH
PHASE DIAGRAMS
STRONTIUM OXIDES
THEORETICAL DATA
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE
VORTICES
YTTRIUM OXIDES
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
BARIUM COMPOUNDS
BISMUTH COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
COPPER COMPOUNDS
DATA
DIAGRAMS
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
STRONTIUM COMPOUNDS
SUPERCONDUCTORS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
VARIATIONS
YTTRIUM COMPOUNDS
656100* - Condensed Matter Physics- Superconductivity