First-order phase transition from the vortex liquid to an amorphous solid.

Authors :: Menghini M
Fasano Y
de la Cruz F
Banerjee SS
Myasoedov Y
Zeldov E
van der Beek CJ
Konczykowski M
Tamegai T
Source :: Physical review letters [Phys Rev Lett] 2003 Apr 11; Vol. 90 (14), pp. 147001. Date of Electronic Publication: 2003 Apr 08.
Publication Year :: 2003
Abstract: We present a systematic study of the topology of the vortex solid phase in superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 samples with low doses of columnar defects. A new state of vortex matter imposed by the presence of geometrical contours associated with the random distribution of columns is found. The results show that the first-order liquid-solid transition in this vortex matter does not require a structural symmetry change.