Melting of regular and decoupled vortex lattices in BSCCO crystals

Intrinsic C-Axis Tunnelling in BSCCO Crystals

Intrinsic c-axis tunnelling in the superconducting state has been measured in zero and finite fields in small mesa structures fabricated on the surface of 2212-BSCCO single crystals. The temperature dependence of the zero-field critical current and quasi-particle conductance is related to microscopic d-wave models in the presence of impurity scattering. The strong field dependence of the c-axis...

Melting of colloidal molecular crystals on triangular lattices.

The phase behavior of a two-dimensional colloidal system subject to a commensurate triangular potential is investigated. We consider the integer number of colloids in each potential minimum as rigid composite objects with effective discrete degrees of freedom. It is shown that there is a rich variety of phases including "herringbone" and "Japanese 6 in 1" phases. The ensuing phase diagram and p...

Elasticity and melting of vortex crystals in anisotropic superconductors: Beyond the continuum regime

The elastic moduli of vortex crystals in anisotropic superconductors are frequently involved in the investigation of their phase diagram and transport properties. We provide a detailed analysis of the harmonic eigenvalues ~normal modes! of the vortex lattice for general values of the magnetic field strength, going beyond the elastic continuum regime. The detailed behavior of these wave-vector-d...

Interstitials, Vacancies and Dislocations in Flux-Line Lattices: A Theory of Vortex Crystals, Supersolids and Liquids

Nonlinear Microwave Switching Response of Bscco Single Crystals

Measurements of the surface impedance, Zs, in Bi 2 Sr 2 Ca 1 Cu 2 O 8+ single crystal with microwave currents owing along the ^ c axis show clear evidence of a step-like nonlinearity. The surface resistance switches between apparently quantized levels for microwave eld strength changes of less than 1 mG. This non-linear response can arise from the presence of intrinsic Josephson junctions along...