The phase diagram of high-Tc's: Influence of anisotropy and disorder

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive phase diagram for vortex structures in high-Tc superconductors, accounting for anisotropy and disorder effects through numerical simulations, unifying various experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a unified phase diagram model based on 3D Josephson junction simulations that captures the effects of anisotropy and disorder in high-Tc superconductors.

Findings

Vortex lattice behavior varies with anisotropy and disorder.

First order melting occurs in clean samples.

Continuous transitions observed in defective samples.

Abstract

We propose a phase diagram for the vortex structure of high temperature superconductors which incorporates the effects of anisotropy and disorder. It is based on numerical simulations using the three-dimensional Josephson junction array model. We support the results with an estimation of the internal energy and configurational entropy of the system. Our results give a unified picture of the behavior of the vortex lattice, covering from the very anysotropic BiSrCaCuO to the less anisotropic YBaCuO, and from the first order melting ocurring in clean samples to the continuous transitions observed in samples with defects.