CRITICAL-BEHAVIOR OF LAYERED SUPERCONDUCTING FILMS IN A PARALLEL MAGNETIC-FIELD

The equilibrium magnetization for layered superconducting films that e xperience a nonzero component H-parallel to of magnetic field applied parallel to the layers is computed at temperatures and at perpendicula r field components in the vicinity of the decoupling transition; A fer mion analogy is exploited for this purpose, whereby it is found that t he parallel magnetization shows an anomalous H-parallel to(-1) tail at high fields due to entropic fluctuations of the (parallel) lattice of Josephson vortices. A collective pinning effect is also identified fo r c-axis transport limited by a single planar defect oriented parallel to both c and to the applied magnetic field. [S0163-1829(98)00826-1].