Vortex pinning and non-Hermitian quantum mechanics
- Lyman Laboratory of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States)
A delocalization phenomenon is studied in a class of non-Hermitian random quantum-mechanical problems. Delocalization arises in response to a sufficiently large constant imaginary vector potential. The transition is related to depinning of flux lines from extended defects in type-II superconductors subject to a tilted external magnetic field. The physical meaning of the complex eigenvalues and currents of the non-Hermitian system is elucidated in terms of properties of tilted vortex lines. The singular behavior of the penetration length describing stretched exponential screening of a perpendicular magnetic field (transverse Meissner effect), the surface transverse magnetization, and the trapping length is determined near the flux-line depinning point. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
- OSTI ID:
- 632628
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter, Vol. 56, Issue 14; Other Information: PBD: Oct 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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