Metastability and hysteretic vortex pinning near the order-disorder transition in NbSe2: Interplay between plastic and elastic energy barriers
We studied thermal and dynamic history effects in the vortex lattice (VL) near the order-disorder transition in clean NbSe2 single crystals. Comparing the evolution of the effective vortex pinning and the bulk VL structure, we observed metastable superheated and supercooled VL configurations that co...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2017 |
| País: | Argentina |
| Institución: | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
| Repositorio: | CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/51995 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/11336/51995 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | VORTEX PHASES NEUTRON SCATTERING ORDER-DISORDER TRANSFORMATIONS METASTABLE PHASES https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.3 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1 |
| Sumario: | We studied thermal and dynamic history effects in the vortex lattice (VL) near the order-disorder transition in clean NbSe2 single crystals. Comparing the evolution of the effective vortex pinning and the bulk VL structure, we observed metastable superheated and supercooled VL configurations that coexist with a hysteretic effective pinning response due to thermal cycling of the system. A novel scenario, governed by the interplay between (lower) elastic and (higher) plastic energy barriers, is proposed as an explanation for our observations: Plastic barriers, which prevent the annihilation or creation of topological defects, require dynamic assistance to be overcome and to achieve a stable VL at each temperature. Conversely, thermal hysteresis in the pining response is ascribed to low energy barriers, which inhibit rearrangement within a single VL correlation volume and are easily overcome as the relative strength of competing interactions changes with temperature. |
|---|