Glass Transitions in Monodisperse Cluster-Forming Ensembles: Vortex Matter in Type-1.5 Superconductors

Rogelio Díaz-Méndez, Fabio Mezzacapo, Wolfgang Lechner, Fabio Cinti, Egor Babaev, and Guido Pupillo
Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 067001 – Published 8 February 2017
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Abstract

At low enough temperatures and high densities, the equilibrium configuration of an ensemble of ultrasoft particles is a self-assembled, ordered, cluster crystal. In the present Letter, we explore the out-of-equilibrium dynamics for a two-dimensional realization, which is relevant to superconducting materials with multiscale intervortex forces. We find that, for small temperatures following a quench, the suppression of the thermally activated particle hopping hinders the ordering. This results in a glass transition for a monodispersed ensemble, for which we derive a microscopic explanation in terms of an “effective polydispersity” induced by multiscale interactions. This demonstrates that a vortex glass can form in clean systems of thin films of “type-1.5” superconductors. An additional setup to study this physics can be layered superconducting systems, where the shape of the effective vortex-vortex interactions can be engineered.

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  • Received 2 May 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.067001

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Rogelio Díaz-Méndez1, Fabio Mezzacapo1, Wolfgang Lechner2, Fabio Cinti3,4, Egor Babaev5, and Guido Pupillo1

  • 1icFRC, IPCMS (UMR 7504), ISIS (UMR 7006), Université de Strasbourg and CNRS, 67000 Strasbourg, France
  • 2IQOQI and Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
  • 3National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP), Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
  • 4Institute of Theoretical Physics, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
  • 5Department of Theoretical Physics and Center for Quantum Materials, KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm SE-10691, Sweden

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Issue

Vol. 118, Iss. 6 — 10 February 2017

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