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Teitel Group Theoretical Statistical and Condensed Matter Physics
Equilibrium Phase Diagram of a 3D Point Disordered Type-II SuperconductorIn pure single crystal samples of the high Tc superconductors, the vortex line lattice present at low magnetic fields melts into a vortex line liquid via a sharp first order phase transition, as the temperature is increased. However, even the purest samples are believed to contain intrinsic random point defects due to the random oxygen doping needed to make these materials superconducting.
As the applied magnetic field H, and hence the vortex line density, increases, the random pinning energy per unit volume increases and the disorder becomes a relevent factor in determining the nature of the vortex phase diagram. Experimentally, as H increases, the melting transition temperature decreases, and discontinuities across this first order phase boundary steadily decrease until they vanish at what has been termed the "upper critical point". Above this "upper critical point" resistivity vanishes continuously as temperature is decreased; it is unclear if there exists a distinct second order transition to a "vortex glass" phase, or just a cross-over where the vortex liquid viscosity increases sufficiently rapidly so as to make any vortex motion undetectable. At lower temperature, measurements suggest a first order transition between the ordered vortex lattice at small H and a disordered vortex state at high H.
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