Vortex Line Ordering in the Driven Three-Dimensional Vortex Glass

TL;DR

This study uses resistively-shunted-junction dynamics to explore vortex line ordering in a driven three-dimensional vortex glass model, revealing a smectic phase with periodic vortex planes under certain current conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed phase diagram for vortex ordering in a driven vortex glass, highlighting the emergence of a smectic phase with specific correlations.

Findings

Identification of a smectic phase with periodic vortex planes

Short-range correlations between neighboring planes

Vortex lines are ordered along the direction of motion

Abstract

Resistively-shunted-junction dynamics is applied to the three dimensional uniformly frustrated XY model with randomly perturbed couplings, as a model for driven steady states in a type-II superconductor with quenched point pinning. For a disorder strength p strong enough to produce a vortex glass in equilibrium, we map the phase diagram as a function of temperature T and uniform driving current I. We find that, within a finite current range I_{c1}(T)<I<I_{c2}(T), the system orders into a set of periodically spaced smectic planes of vortex lines. Smectic planes are short range correlated with neighboring planes; vortex lines within a given plane are periodic along the direction of motion, while disordered along the direction of the applied magnetic field.