Force Free Configurations of Vortices in High Temperature Superconductors near H_{c2}

TL;DR

This paper investigates force-free arrangements of vortices in high-temperature superconductors near the upper critical field, linking these configurations to chiral liquid crystalline phases.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to understanding vortex arrangements using the structure of chiral liquid crystals near the melting transition.

Findings

Force-free vortex configurations can be described by chiral liquid crystalline phases.

The analysis applies to the line-liquid and line-crystal regimes near H_m.

The study provides insights into vortex behavior close to the melting transition.

Abstract

We study force-free configurations of Abrikosov flux lines in the line-liquid and line-crystal limit, near the melting transition at H_m. We show that the condition for zero force configurations can be solved by appealing to the structure of chiral liquid crystalline phases.