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Disorder-induced unbinding of a flux line from an extended defect

Journal Article · · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (United States)
 [1];  [2]
  1. Physics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States)
  2. Physics Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

We study the competition, for a single flux line, between pinning by bulk point randomness and an extended defect, such as an ion track, dislocation line, or twin plane. In three dimensions, there is an unbinding transition for a linear (but not a planar) defect. This transition is analyzed using Flory, Migdal-Kadanoff, functional renormalization-group, and numerical methods. The localization length, describing the typical transverse separation between the vortex line and defect, diverges like [ital l][sub [perpendicular]][similar to][vert bar][ital T][minus][ital T][sub [ital c]][vert bar][sup [minus][nu]][sub [perpendicular]], with [nu][sub [perpendicular]][approx]1.4. We predict the effects of this localization length on the [ital I]-[ital V] characteristics of the superconductor, and suggest experiments to observe the transition.

OSTI ID:
6693913
Journal Information:
Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter; (United States) Vol. 49:18; ISSN PRBMDO; ISSN 0163-1829
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English