Y. Kopelevich et P. Esquinazi, Vortex lattice depinning vs. vortex lattice melting: a pinning-based explanation of the equilibrium magnetization jump, SOL ST COMM, 114(5), 2000, pp. 241-244
In this communication we argue that the Vortex Lattice Melting scenario fai
ls to explain several key experimental results published in the literature.
From a careful analysis of these results we conclude that the Flux Line La
ttice (FLL) does not melt along a material- and sample-dependent boundary H
-j(T) but the opposite, it decouples from the superconducting matrix becomi
ng more ordered. When the FLL depinning is sharp, the difference between th
e equilibrium magnetization M-eq(T, H) of the pinned and unpinned FLL leads
to the observed step-like change M-eq(T, H). We demonstrate that the exper
imentally obtained Delta M-eq(T, H) can be well accounted for by a variatio
n of the pinning efficiency of vortices along the H-j(T) boundary. (C) 2000
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