Reversible to Irreversible Flow Transition in Periodically Driven Vortices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a dynamical phase transition from reversible to irreversible vortex flow in superconductors under periodic driving, paralleling similar phenomena in colloidal suspensions, and highlights the critical conditions influencing this transition.

Contribution

It reveals that driven vortex systems undergo a reversible-irreversible transition similar to colloidal suspensions and provides evidence of this as a dynamical phase transition.

Findings

Reversible to irreversible transition occurs with increasing vortex density or cycle period.

Driven vortex systems exhibit behavior similar to colloidal suspensions under shear.

The onset of irreversibility is identified as a dynamical phase transition.

Abstract

We show that periodically driven superconducting vortices in the presence of quenched disorder exhibit a transition from reversible to irreversible flow under increasing vortex density or cycle period. This type of behavior has recently been observed for periodically sheared colloidal suspensions and we demonstrate that driven vortex systems exhibit remarkably similar behavior. We also provide evidence that the onset of irreversible behavior is a dynamical phase transition.