Abstract
The melting of the vortex lattice in highly anisotropic, layered superconductors with commensurate, periodic columnar pins is studied in a geometry where magnetic field and columnar pins are normal to the layers. Thermodynamic properties and equilibrium density distributions are obtained from numerical minimizations of an appropriate free-energy functional. We find a line of first-order transitions that ends at a critical point as the pin concentration is increased. We quantitatively determine the location of this critical point and show that it is experimentally accessible.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 257002-1-257002-4 |
Journal | Physical review letters |
Volume | 87 |
Issue number | 25 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 17 2001 |