Evidence for Josephson vortices in (BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)2

Paul A. Mansky, P. M. Chaikin, R. C. Haddon

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    We present evidence for and study the properties of coreless Josephson vortices (parallel to the superconducting layers) in the organic superconductor (BEDT-TTF)2Cu(NCS)2, using ac susceptibility measurements in the mixed state. We observe (1) extremely weak-pinning restoring forces for flux motion parallel to the layers, due to the absence of the vortex normal core; (2) single vortex (noncollective) pinning, due to weak interactions between Josephson vortices; (3) the lock-in of the vortices parallel to the layers when the dc field is applied at an arbitrary angle; and (4) highly nonlinear response to the ac field h in the lock-in state, above a threshold of h0.5 G. The behavior of tilted flux lines is dominated by the much stronger pinning and collective interactions of two-dimensional Abrikosov pancake vortices, and linear response is largely restored when the flux lines unlock from the layers. We measure the Josephson penetration depth to be (T=5 K)200 m, yielding a penetration depth anisotropy of =/160-350.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)15929-15944
    Number of pages16
    JournalPhysical Review B
    Volume50
    Issue number21
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Dec 1 1994

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Condensed Matter Physics

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