Josephson vortex lattice in layered superconductors

TL;DR

This review explores the properties and behaviors of Josephson vortex lattices in layered superconductors, emphasizing theoretical insights from the Lawrence-Doniach model and effects of layering and thermal fluctuations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the Josephson vortex lattice structure and dynamics in layered superconductors using the Lawrence-Doniach model, highlighting phenomena due to layering and thermal effects.

Findings

Detailed structure of isolated vortex lines

Effects of layered structure on vortex lattice configurations

Influence of thermal fluctuations on vortex lattice stability

Abstract

Many superconducting materials are composed of weakly coupled conducting layers. Such a layered structure has a very strong influence on the properties of vortex matter in a magnetic field. This review focuses on the properties of the Josephson vortex lattice generated by the magnetic field applied in the layers direction. The theoretical description is based on the Lawrence-Doniach model in the London limit which takes into account only the phase degree of freedom of the superconducting order parameter. In spite of its simplicity, this model leads to an amazingly rich set of phenomena. We review in details the structure of an isolated vortex line as well as various properties of the vortex lattice, both in dilute and dense limits. In particular, we present an extensive consideration on the influence of the layered structure and thermal fluctuations on the selection of lattice configurations at different magnetic fields.