Quantum melting of a two-dimensional vortex lattice at zero temperature

Nonmonotonic Temperature-Dependent Dissipation at Nonequilibrium in Atomically Thin Clean-Limit Superconductors

Resistance in superconductors arises from the motion of vortices driven by flowing supercurrents or external electromagnetic fields and may be strongly affected by thermal or quantum fluctuations. The common expectation is that as the temperature is lowered, vortex motion is suppressed, leading to a decreased resistance. We show experimentally that in clean-limit atomically thin 2H-NbSe₂ the resistance below the superconducting transition temperature may be nonmonotonic, passing through a minimum before increasing again as the temperature is decreased further. The effect is most pronounced in monolayer devices and cannot be understood in terms of known mechanisms. We propose a qualitative two-fluid vortex model in which thermal fluctuations of pinned vortices control the mobility of the free vortices. The findings provide a new perspective on fundamental questions of vortex mobility and dissipation in superconductors.

Vortex lattices in rotating atomic bose gases with dipolar interactions

We show that dipolar interactions have dramatic effects on the ground states of rotating atomic Bose gases in the weak-interaction limit. With increasing dipolar interaction (relative to the net contact interaction), the mean field, or high filling factor, ground state undergoes a series of transitions between vortex lattices of different symmetries: triangular, square, "stripe," and "bubble" phases. We also study the effects of dipolar interactions on the quantum fluids at low filling factors. We show that the incompressible Laughlin state at filling factor nu = 1/2 is replaced by compressible stripe and bubble phases.

Vortex arrays in a rotating superfluid Fermi gas

The behavior of a dilute two-component neutral superfluid Fermi gas subjected to rotation is investigated within the context of a weak-coupling BCS theory. The microscopic properties at finite temperature are obtained by iterating the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations to self-consistency. In the model, alkali atoms are strongly confined in quasi-two-dimensional traps produced by a deep one-dimensional optical lattice. The lattice depth significantly enhances the critical transition temperature and the critical rotation frequency at which the superfluidity ceases. As the rotation frequency increases, the triangular vortex arrays become increasingly irregular, indicating a quantum melting transition.

Tkachenko modes of vortex lattices in rapidly rotating bose-einstein condensates

We calculate the in-plane modes of the vortex lattice in a rotating Bose condensate, from the slowly rotating to mean-field quantum Hall limits. The Tkachenko mode frequency, linear in wave vector k for lattice rotational velocities Omega much smaller than the lowest sound wave frequency in a finite system, becomes quadratic in k in the opposite limit. The system also supports an inertial mode of frequency >or=2omega. The calculated frequencies are in excellent agreement with recent observations of Tkachenko modes by Phys. Rev. Lett., 91, 100402 (2003)].

Enhancement of the quantum-liquid phase by increased resistivity in thick a-MoxSi1-x films

Effects of normal-state resistivity rho(n) on the vortex phase diagram at low temperature T have been studied based on dc and ac complex resistivities for thick amorphous MoxSi(1-x) films. It is commonly observed irrespective of rho(n) that, in the limit T=0, the vortex-glass-transition line B(g)(T) is independent of T and extrapolates to a field below the T=0 upper critical field B(c2)(0), indicative of the quantum-vortex-liquid (QVL) phase in the regime B(g)(0)<B<B(c2)(0). The relative width of the QVL phase increases along the B and T axes approximately proportional to rho(n). This result is consistent with a view that the QVL phase is caused by strong quantum fluctuations, which are enhanced with increasing rho(n).

Quantum melting and absence of Bose-Einstein condensation in two-dimensional vortex matter

We demonstrate that quantum fluctuations suppress Bose-Einstein condensation of quasi-two-dimensional bosons in a rapidly rotating trap. Our conclusions rest in part on the derivation of an exact expression for the boson action in terms of vortex position coordinates, and in part on a solution of the weakly interacting boson Bogoliubov equations, which simplify in the rapid-rotation limit. We obtain analytic expressions for the collective-excitation dispersion, which is quadratic rather than linear. Our estimates for the boson filling factor at which the vortex lattice melts are consistent with recent exact-diagonalization calculations.

Quantum phases of vortices in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate the ground states of weakly interacting bosons in a rotating trap as a function of the number of bosons, N, and the average number of vortices, N(V). We identify the filling fraction nu identical with N/N(V) as the parameter controlling the nature of these states. We present results indicating that, as a function of nu, there is a zero temperature phase transition between a triangular vortex lattice phase, and strongly correlated vortex liquid phases. The vortex liquid phases appear to be the Read-Rezayi parafermion states.

Vortex glass transition and quantum vortex liquid at low temperature in a thick a- MoxSi1-x film

We present measurements of ac complex resistivity, as well as dc resistivity, for a thick amorphous MoxSi1-x film at low temperatures ( T>0.04 K) in various constant fields B. We find that the vortex glass transition (VGT) persists down to T approximately 0.04Tc0 up to B approximately 0.9Bc2(0), where Tc0 and Bc2(0) are the mean-field transition temperature and upper critical field at T = 0, respectively. In the limit T-->0, the VGT line Bg(T) extrapolates to a field below Bc2(0), while the dc resistivity rho(T) tends to the finite nonzero value in fields just above Bg(0). These results indicate the presence of a metallic quantum vortex liquid at T = 0 in the regime Bg(0)<B<Bc2(0).

Quantum melting of the quasi-two-dimensional vortex lattice in kappa- (ET)2Cu(NCS)(2)

We report torque magnetization measurements in regions of the mixed state phase diagram ( B approximately mu(o)H(c2) and T(c)/10(3)) of the organic superconductor kappa-(ET)2Cu(NCS)(2), where quantum fluctuations are expected to dominate thermal effects. Over most of the field range below the irreversibility line ( B(irr)), magnetothermal instabilities are observed in the form of flux jumps. The abrupt cessation of these instabilities just below B(irr) indicates a quantum melting transition from a quasi-two-dimensional vortex lattice phase to a quantum liquid phase.