Magnetic phase diagram of weakly pinned type-II superconductors

The phenomenon of superconductivity was discovered in 1911, however, the me thodology to classify and distinguish type-IT superconductivity was establi shed only in late fifties after Abrikosov's prediction of a flux line latti ce in 1957. The advent of high temperature superconductors (HTSC) in 1986 f ocused attention onto identifying and classifying other possible phases of vortex matter in all classes of superconductors by a variety of techniques. We have collated evidences in support of a proposal to construct a generic phase diagram for weakly pinned superconducting systems, based on their re sponses to ac and de magnetic fields. The phase diagram comprises quasi-gla ssy phases, like, the Bragg glass, a vortex glass and a reentrant glass in addition to the (completely) amorphous phases of pinned and unpinned variet y. The characteristic metastability and thermomagnetic history dependent fe atures recognized amongst various glassy vortex phases suggest close connec tions between vortex matter and other disordered condensed matter systems, like, spin glasses, super cooled liquids/ structural glasses, etc. A novel quenched random disorder driven fracturing transition stands out amongst ot her noteworthy facets of weakly vortex pinned vortex matter.