We present a systematic study of the topology of the vortex solid phase in superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 samples with low doses of columnar defects. A new state of vortex matter imposed by the presence of geometrical contours associated with the random distribution of columns is found. The results show that the first order liquid-solid transition in this vortex matter does not require a structural symmetry change.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0210623,
title = {First order phase transition from the vortex liquid to an amorphous solid},
author = {M. Menghini and Yanina Fasano and F. de la Cruz and S. S. Banerjee and Y. Myasoedov and E. Zeldov and C. J. van der Beek and M. Konczykowski and T. Tamegai},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0210623},
year = {2009}
}