Niebieskikwiat, D., L. Civale, C. A. Balseiro, and G. Nieva. "Nonglassy relaxation by double kinks in YBa2Cu3O7-delta with columnar defects." PHYSICAL REVIEW B 61, no. 10 (2000): 7135–7141.
Abstract: We present long-term relaxation measurements of the irreversible magnetization in YBa2Cu3O7-delta Single crystals with columnar defects. Within the single vortex pinning regime we find a nonglassy response at intermediate currents, in between the half loops and superkinks glassy regimes. We demonstrate that such behavior is due to double kink excitations whose critical nucleus has a size independent of current, and occur even in the presence of pinning energy dispersion.
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Herbsommer, J. A., G. Nieva, and J. Luzuriaga. "Interaction of vortices with oriented twin boundaries in single-crystal YBa2Cu3O7-delta." Physical Review B 61, no. 17 (2000): 11745–11751.
Abstract: We have studied the response of the vortex lattice (VL) in a YBa2Cu3O7-delta sample with oriented twin boundaries (TB's) and in an untwinned sample. In the twinned sample the density of twin boundaries is estimated from decoration experiments. The TB's affect the liquid-to-solid transition in the vortex structure, which is of first order in the twin free crystal and to a Bose glass in the twinned sample. We measure the ac susceptibility, and find that the response strongly depends on the orientation of the probing ac field with respect to the TB's. The ac field produces a tilting stress on the vortices. With the applied de magnetic field H-dc parallel to the c axis, the response of the VL is weaker when the tilt is parallel to the TB's than when it is perpendicular or at 45 degrees to the TB's. The results are explained by the fact that the VL is locked to the twin boundaries for small deviations of H-dc from the c axis and is partially pinned to them for larger angles. By measuring over the whole angular range we estimate the angles over which each regime is realized for different temperatures. The results of the detwinned sample are used for comparison.
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Maiorov, B., G. Nieva, and E. Osquiguil. "First-order phase transition of the vortex lattice in twinned YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals in tilted magnetic fields." Physical Review B – Condensed Matter and Materials Physics 61, no. 18 (2000): 12427–12432.
Abstract: We present an exhaustive analysis of transport measurements performed in twinned YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals which establishes that the vortex solid-liquid transition is first order when the magnetic field H is applied at an angle ? away from the direction of the twin planes. We show that the resistive transitions are hysteretic and the V-I curves are nonlinear, displaying a characteristic S shape at the melting line Hm(T), which scales as ?(?)Hm(T,?), where ?(?) is the anisotropy factor. These features are gradually lost when the critical point H*(?) is approached. Above H*(?) the V-I characteristics show a linear response in the experimentally accessible V-I window, and the transition becomes reversible. Finally we show that the first-order phase transition takes place between a highly correlated vortex liquid in the field direction and a solid state of unknown symmetry. As a consequence, our data support the scenario for a vortex-line melting in twinned YBa2Cu3O7 crystals in contrast to a vortex sublimation as recently suggested for untwinned La2-xSrxCuO4, YBa2Cu3O7 and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 [T. Sasagawa et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4297 (1998)].
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Fasano, Y., M. Menghini, F. de la Cruz, and G. Nieva. "Weak interaction and matching conditions for replicas of vortex lattices." PHYSICAL REVIEW B 62, no. 22 (2000): 15183–15189.
Abstract: We present experiments demonstrating the conditions under which weak interaction between replicas of vortex structures break their translational and rotational symmetry. The Fe clumps introduced by Bitter decorations of vortex structures are used to induce an extremely weak interaction fur subsequent vortex structures in low and high temperature superconducting crystals. The matching between the Fe pattern acid the vortex configuration require the structure to be prepared under quite stringent conditions: The field creating the structure has to be the same in magnitude although it can differ in orientation from that used for the preparation of the Fe pattern. The interaction between vortex replicas as represented by the Fe clumps of Bitter decorations makes it possible to differentiate the vortex nucleation and propagation mechanisms in low and high temperature superconductors.
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