DYNAMIC MELTING AND DECOUPLING OF THE VORTEX LATTICE IN LAYERED SUPERCONDUCTORS

The dynamic phase diagram of vortex lattices driven in disorder is cal culated in two and three dimensions. A modified Lindemann criterion fo r the fluctuations of the distance of neighboring vortices is used, wh ich unifies previous analytic approaches to the equilibrium and nonequ ilibrium phase transitions. The temperature shifts of the dynamic melt ing and decoupling transitions are found to scale inversely proportion al to large driving currents. A comparison with two-dimensional simula tions shows that this phenomenological approach can provide a quantita tive estimate for the location of these transitions.