Physics – Condensed Matter – Superconductivity
Scientific paper
2007-04-06
Phys. Rev. B 76, 064523 (2007)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Superconductivity
19 pages, 22 postscript figures. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. B
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevB.76.064523
Using numerical simulations, we investigate vortex configurations and pinning in superconductors with honeycomb and kagome pinning arrays. We find that a variety of novel vortex crystal states can be stabilized at integer and fractional matching field densities. The honeycomb and kagome pinning arrays produce considerably more pronounced commensuration peaks in the critical depinning force than triangular pinning arrays, and also cause additional peaks at noninteger matching fields where a portion of the vortices are located in the large interstitial regions of the pinning lattices. For the honeycomb pinning array, we find matching effects of equal strength at most fillings B/B_\phi=n/2 for n>2, where n is an integer, in agreement with recent experiments. For kagome pinning arrays, pronounced matching effects generally occur at B/B_\phi=n/3 for n>3, while for triangular pinning arrays pronounced matching effects are observed only at integer fillings B/B_\phi=n. At the noninteger matching field peaks in the honeycomb and kagome pinning arrays, the interstitial vortices are arranged in dimer, trimer, and higher order n-mer states that have an overall orientational order. We call these n-mer states "vortex molecular crystals" and "vortex plastic crystals" since they are similar to the states recently observed in colloidal molecular crystal systems. We argue that the vortex molecular crystals have properties in common with certain spin systems such as Ising and n-state Potts models. We show that kagome and honeycomb pinning arrays can be useful for increasing the critical current above that of purely triangular pinning arrays.
Olson Reichhardt C. J.
Reichhardt Charles
No associations
LandOfFree
Vortex Molecular Crystal and Vortex Plastic Crystal States in Honeycomb and Kagome Pinning Arrays does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Vortex Molecular Crystal and Vortex Plastic Crystal States in Honeycomb and Kagome Pinning Arrays, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Vortex Molecular Crystal and Vortex Plastic Crystal States in Honeycomb and Kagome Pinning Arrays will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-699450