Abstract
Resistivity measurements for different Lorentz force configurations and the detection of the longitudinal vortex velocity correlation length, with the magnetic field applied parallel to the planes, in the mixed state of clean and twinned single crystals, support the existence of a vortex-smectic phase when the vortices interact with an attractive periodic potential. The transition from the vortex-liquid to the vortex-solid state is shown to be achieved in two steps, a continuous transition from a liquid to a possible smectic phase and another continuous one from the smectic phase to a solid.
- Received 29 July 1998
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.59.11201
©1999 American Physical Society