Structural Evidence for an Edge-Contaminated Vortex Phase in a Nb Crystal using Neutron Diffrraction

Published

July 20, 2011

Author(s)

Helen A. Hanson, X. Wang, I. K. Dimitrov, J. Shi, X. S. Ling, Brian B. Maranville, Charles Majkrzak, M. Laver, U. Keiderling, M. Russina

Abstract

We report the structural observation of a disordered vortex matter phase existing near the edge of a bulk type-II superconductor Nb using a novel position-sensitive neutron diffraction technique. This "edge-contaminated" vortex state was implicated in previous studies using transport techniques and magneto-optics and is postulated to play a significant role in the behavior of vortex dynamics in a wide range of type-II superconductors. In this sample, thermal annealing causes the vortex matter in the interior to re-order implying that the edge-contaminated bulk state is metastable. However, the edge vortex structure remains disordered after repeated thermal annealing indicating spatial coexistence of a vortex glass with a Bragg glass. This observation resolves outstanding issues concerning the peak effect in type-II superconductors.

Citation

Physical Review B

Volume

84

Issue

1

Pub Type

Journals

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Citation

Hanson, H. , Wang, X. , Dimitrov, I. , Shi, J. , Ling, X. , Maranville, B. , Majkrzak, C. , Laver, M. , Keiderling, U. and Russina, M. (2011), Structural Evidence for an Edge-Contaminated Vortex Phase in a Nb Crystal using Neutron Diffrraction, Physical Review B, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=908568 (Accessed April 19, 2024)