Observation of structures of chain vortices inside anisotropic high- Tc superconductors.

In order to elucidate the formation mechanism of unconventional arrangements of vortices in high- Tc superconducting thin films at an inclined magnetic field to the layer plane, we investigated the structures of vortex lines inside the films by Lorentz microscopy using our 1-MV field-emission electron microscope. Our observation results concluded that vortex lines are tilted to form linear chains in YBaCu3O(7,8). Vortex lines in the chain-lattice state in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+delta), on the other hand, are all perpendicular to the layer plane, and therefore only vortices lined up along Josephson vortices form chains.

Direct observation of spontaneous weak ferromagnetism in the superconductor ErNi2B2C.

Neutron measurements show that superconducting ErNi2B2C (T(C) = 11 K) develops antiferromagnetic spin density wave magnetic order (T(N) = 6 K), which squares up with decreasing temperature yielding a series of higher-order magnetic Bragg peaks with odd harmonics. Below T(WFM) = 2.3 K where magnetization indicates a net moment develops, even-order Bragg peaks develop which low field (approximately 3 Oe) polarized beam measurements show are magnetic in origin. The data directly demonstrate the existence of a net magnetization with a periodicity of 20a, confirming the microscopic coexistence of spontaneous weak ferromagnetism with superconductivity.

Temperature dependence of the flux line lattice transition into square symmetry in superconducting LuNi2B2C.

We have investigated the temperature dependence of the H parallel to c flux line lattice structural phase transition from square to hexagonal symmetry, in the tetragonal superconductor LuNi2B2C ( T(c) = 16.6 K). At temperatures below 10 K the transition onset field, H2(T), is only weakly temperature dependent. Above 10 K, H2(T) rises sharply, bending away from the upper critical field. This contradicts theoretical predictions of H2(T) merging with the upper critical field and suggests that just below the H(c2)(T) curve the flux line lattice might be hexagonal.

Flux line lattice reorientation in the borocarbide superconductors with H parallel a.

Small angle neutron scattering studies of the flux line lattice in LuNi2B2C and ErNi2B2C induced by a field parallel to the a axis reveal a first order flux line lattice reorientation transition. Below the transition the flux line lattice nearest neighbor direction is parallel to the b axis, and above the transition it is parallel to the c axis. This transition cannot be explained using nonlocal corrections to the London model. In addition, the anisotropy of the penetration depth lambda and the coherence length xi change at the transition.

Magnetic flux-line lattices and vortices in the copper oxide superconductors.

A variety of recent experiments on both the static and the dynamic properties of vortices and flux-line lattices in the mixed state of the copper oxide superconductors are discussed. The experiments are of two basic types: (i) experiments that image the magnetic flux patterns either with magnetic decoration or neutrons and give information about static structures, and (ii) experiments that explore the dynamics of vortices either through the resistivity or other electrodynamic responses of the material. Results of these experiments argue in favor of the existence of a true phase transition in the high-field vortex state from a low-temperature superconducting vortex glass phase into a disordered high-temperature vortex fluid phase. The vortex glass phase transition model does a good job of explaining high-precision measurements of the dynamics at the transition. At low fields and temperatures, very long range hexatic order in the flux-line lattice is observed.