Distinct vortex-glass phases in Yb$_{3}$Rh$_{4}$Sn$_{13}$ at high and low magnetic fields
Abstract
The vortex lattice (VL) in the mixed state of the stannide superconductor YbRhSn has been studied using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The field dependencies of the normalized longitudinal and transverse correlation lengths of the VL, and , reveal two distinct anomalies that are associated with vortex-glass phases below ~~700~G and above ~~1.7~T ( is the intervortex distance). At high fields, around 1.7~T, the longitudinal correlation decreases abruptly with increasing fields indicating a weakening (but not a complete destruction) of the VL due to a phase transition into a glassy phase, below (1.8 K)~~2.5~T. and , gradually decrease for decreasing fields of strengths less than 1~T and tend towards zero. The shear elastic modulus and the tilting elastic modulus vanish at a critical field ~~700~G, providing evidence for a disorder-induced transition into a vortex-glass. A 'ring' of scattered intensity is observed for fields lower than 700~G, , ~=~135~G~~~~700~G. This low-field phenomenon is of different nature than the one observed at high fields, where but not , decreases abruptly to an intermediate value.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1407.0569,
title = {Distinct vortex-glass phases in Yb$_{3}$Rh$_{4}$Sn$_{13}$ at high and low magnetic fields},
author = {D. G. Mazzone and J. L. Gavilano and R. Sibille and M. Ramakrishnan and C. D. Dewhurst and M. Kenzelmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1407.0569},
year = {2015}
}