Relaxation and Glassy Dynamics in Disordered Type-II Superconductors

TL;DR

This paper investigates the slow, glassy relaxation behavior of magnetic flux lines in disordered type-II superconductors using simulations, revealing how pinning and interactions influence vortex dynamics.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis of vortex relaxation mechanisms, distinguishing the effects of pinning and interactions in low-temperature disordered superconductors.

Findings

Glassy dynamics emerge due to vortex pinning and interactions.

Different relaxation mechanisms can be systematically disentangled.

Vortex matter exhibits complex non-equilibrium relaxation behavior.

Abstract

We study the non-equilibrium relaxation kinetics of interacting magnetic flux lines in disordered type-II superconductors at low temperatures by means of a three-dimensional elastic line model and Monte Carlo simulations. Investigating the vortex density and height autocorrelation functions as well as the flux line mean-square displacement, we observe the emergence of glassy dynamics, caused by the competing effects of vortex pinning due to point defects and long-range repulsive interactions between the flux lines. Our systematic numerical study allows us to carefully disentangle the associated different relaxation mechanisms, and to assess their relative impact on the kinetics of vortex matter at low temperatures.