C. Reichhardt, C. J. Olson, and Franco Nori
Department of Physics, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Michigan 48109-1120
(Received 31 October 1997)
As a function of applied field, we find a rich variety of ordered and partially ordered vortex lattice configurations in systems with square or triangular arrays of pinning sites. We present formulas that predict the matching fields at which commensurate vortex configurations occur and the vortex lattice orientation with respect to the pinning lattice. Our results are in excellent agreement with recent imaging experiments on square pinning arrays [K. Harada et al., Science 274, 1167 (1996)]. [S0163-1829(98)02214-0]
Since highly ordered commensurate lattices can be more strongly pinned than incommensurate lattices, 7,9-12 a determination of how different matching configurations affect the overall pinning of the vortex lattice could be useful for technological applications of superconductors. For instance, enhanced pinning at certain matching fields has been verified with the observation of peaks in easily measurable magnetization curves,9,11,12 including high-Tc materials.11
Imaging experiments have so far only probed up to the fourth matching field and have only examined square pinning arrays. 7 A general characterization of the vortex matching patterns as a function of arbitrary matching densities for square and triangular pinning arrays has not been done up to this point.
We have performed a series of large-scale simulated annealing as well as flux-gradient-driven14 molecular dynamics simulations of vortices interacting with square and triangular arrays of small pinning sites for very high fields (up to the 28th matching field), and for a wide range of pinning parameters and system sizes.
Our results show that the vortex lattice (VL) is highly ordered only at certain matching fields (MF's) and can have various orientations with respect to the underlying pinning array. At some MF's the VL is actually disordered. The enhancements of M(H) are most noticeable for fields less than the second matching field; however, we find some evidence of small enhancements of M(H) for higher fields. Square and triangular arrays produce different sequences of ordered matching fields at which the pinning is enhanced. At some MF's, we find novel vortex arrangements with translational order only along certain directions. Our numerical results are in excellent agreement with recent low-field experiments on square pinning arrays. 7 Moreover, using geometrical arguments that take into account the constraints of the pinning array, we derive simple formulas for the ordered MF's and for the orientation of the VL with respect to the square or triangular pinning array.
vi=fi=fivv+fivp+fiT. (1)
(2)
=(ri-rj)/|ri-rj|,
and we take
=1.
K1(r/
)
is the modified Bessel function,
is the penetration depth, and
.
,
so for computational efficiency the interaction can be safely cut off
at 6
.
In thin-film superconductors the long-range
vortex-vortex interaction decays as 1/r unlike in 3D bulk
superconductors; however, the excellent agreement between our
results and experiments in thin films7
indicates that our results are valid for both slabs and thin
films and are general enough to be applicable to other
systems with repulsive particles on a periodic substrate
(e.g., colloids).
The pinning force is
(3)
is the Heaviside step
function, fp is the maximum pinning force,
Np is the number of
pinning sites, and
=(ri-rk(p))/|ri-rk(p)|.
Temperature is added as a stochastic term with properties
kBT
(t - t'). (5)
We measure all lengths in units of
and fields in
/
,
and consider systems
from 36
x 36
up to
72
x 72
in size.
The pinning is placed in square or triangular arrays at densities between
np=0.072/
and 0.81/
.
The pinning radius is fixed at rp=0.35
.
Pinning sites this size and smaller trap only one vortex
per pinning site,
which is similar to the experimental situation in Ref.
7.
We consider pinning forces fp varying from 0.2f0 to
f0 and examine
the VL ordering up to the 28th MF.

/
,
rp=0.35
,
and fp/f0=0.625 showing a
12
x 12
subset
of a 36
x 36
sample. The flux density is
B/
= 1 in (a), 2 (b), 3 (c), 4 (d), 5 (e),
6 (f), 7 (g), 8 (h), and 9 (i).
In Fig. 1 we show a series of VL orderings after annealing
from our simulations for a
square pinning array with
B=0.17
/
for each integer MF up to the 9th MF. In (a), at the first MF,
all the vortices are trapped at the pinning sites so that the
overall VL is square. At the second MF (b) the interstitial vortices
occupy the regions in between the pinning sites, so the overall VL
is square but rotated 45o with respect to the pinning array.
At the third MF (c), the VL is still highly ordered, with pairs of
interstitial vortices alternating in position. In (d), at the fourth
MF, a VL with triangular ordering is observed. These structures
for the first four MF's correspond exactly to those found in direct
imaging experiments.7 We also observe ordered VL's
at the sub-MF's (B/
= 1/4 and 1/2,
where
is the vortex density at the first MF), and
partially ordered VL's at fractional MF's
(B/
=3/2 and
B/
=5/2)
in agreement with experiment.7
We find that the
general features of the observed VL configurations up to the fourth
matching field are robust for a wide range of parameters with
0.2f0
fp
f0,
and also for
0.072
/


0.81
/
,
for system sizes up to
72
x 72
.
B. Patterns not yet experimentally observed
In Figs. 1(e) 1(i) we show vortex configurations
from our simulations that have not yet been
observed experimentally. In (e), at the fifth MF, the overall VL
is again square and rotated 27o with respect to the pinning
lattice. In (f) a very unusual VL is observed; although the VL is
neither square nor triangular some ordering is still visible.
Along the (-1,1) direction the vortices are spaced periodically
while in other directions apparently periodic distortions can
be clearly seen. At the seventh MF, in (g), the VL is disordered.
In (h), at the eighth MF, the VL is nearly triangular.
In (i), at the ninth MF, a distorted square VL with two
different orientations appears, separated by a twin boundary in
the middle of the figure. For similar systems with lower pin density
we have studied up to the 28th MF. We see the same VLs already
described as well as ordered VL's at the 12th and 15th MF's,
while the vortex configurations at the other MF's have no particular
ordering. For B/
> 15,
at high MF's with no overall lattice
order, the VL contains ordered domains separated by grain boundaries
of defects similar to those observed in Ref.
8.
Due to numerical constraints we could only look at pinning
densities up to
np=0.35/
for
5 < B/
12, and
np=0.072/
for matching fields
12 < B/
28. The vortex
patterns observed here are robust for system sizes up to
72
x 72
.
The fact that the same patterns appear
for different-sized systems indicates that the patterns arise due to
commensurability with the pinning lattice rather than commensurability with
the periodic boundary conditions.
We should point out that since we cannot do infinite-size systems,
we cannot conclusively rule out finite-size effects on the vortex patterns
observed. Also, in an experimental sample, edges and line or planar defects
might distort an otherwise periodic VL and create ordered domains that
do not extend over the entire sample.

/
,
rp=0.35
,
and fp/f0=0.625 for a
12
x 12
subset of a
36
x 36
sample.
The flux density
is B/
= 1 in (a), 2 (b), 3 (c), 4 (d), 5
(e), 6 (f), 7 (g), 8 (h), and 9 (i).
,
fp=0.625f0)
we have studied up to the 28th MF, and find ordered
triangular VL's at the MF's of order 12, 13, 16, 19, 21, 25, and 28.
The vortex patterns observed for the triangular
pinning array are robust for a similar set of parameters as the square
pinning array discussed in the previous section.
(6)
(7)
,
so that aN=a/
.
Substituting this into Eq. (8) gives
(10)
, (11)
=30o and 19.11o,
respectively, in
agreement with the VLs shown in Figs. 2(c) and 2(g). We have found that
Eq. (10) is valid at least up to the 28th MF studied in our simulations.
We can derive similar conditions for the square pinning array,
predicting that ordered VL's appear at the Nth MF when
N = m2 + n2. (12)
This equation predicts square VL's for N = 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, and 9.
Indeed, ordered VL's are seen at these fields (see Fig. 1).
However, only N = 1, 2, and 5 are square in the simulation.
Moreover, the angle of the VL with respect to the array of pins is
in principle expected to be
. (13)
These matching conditions
do not always predict the right VL ordering observed in simulations.
For instance, the VL's seen at higher fields N > 9 have
triangular or distorted square rather than square ordering.
These equations
fail when the VL tendency to remain triangular dominates the
tendency of the pin array to force a square ordering on the VL.
This is particularly clear for higher fields, N > 9,
when the many interstitial vortices are free to
minimize their energy by forming triangular lattices.
Equation (9) for the triangular array of pins does not
have this limitation because both the sample
and the VL favor a triangular order.
As we have seen from the simulations, the vortex lattice is
ordered at the matching fields where the commensurability conditions
outlined above are met and generally disordered where they are not.
Several low matching fields where these conditions are not
met still produce
ordered or partially ordered lattices such as the
honeycomb lattice at the second matching field for the triangular pinning
lattice and the alternating interstitial lattice at the third field for the
square array.
This ordering at fields not met by our commensurability conditions
may occur due to the pinning being more
dominant at lower fields so that ordering can be imposed on the
interstitial vortices.
For higher fields the vortex configuration for fields where
commensurability conditions are not met is disordered or partially
disordered.
At higher fields B > 6
the
vortex-vortex interactions dominate. Here a triangular vortex
lattice is always preferred, so any alternate ordering
imposed by the pinning does not occur.

in (a)]
because of the gradient in the field.
These flux-gradient-driven effects are stronger at low fields and
weaker at higher fields. The field-cooled cases studied in Figs. 1 and 2,
however, can achieve commensurability throughout the sample.
In (g) P5 is the upper curve, while in (c) and (k)
P5 and P7 follow each other.
For the random pinning array at low fields
the maximum value |M(H)| is
0.0095
/
,
about 1.5 times less than the triangular or square pinning arrays (a),(b).
For H > 0.4
/
,
the magnetization M(H) falls off smoothly while
P6 slowly increases as vortex-vortex interactions dominate at
higher fields.
and falls off very rapidly
after this. Peaks in both M(H) and P6(H) appear
[Figs. 3(a) and 3(b)] at the MF's N = 3, 4, 7, and 9 that produced
triangular VL's in the simulated annealing (Fig. 2). From Fig. 2(a),
the vortex lattice would be expected to form
a triangular lattice with the pinning substrate at the first matching field,
and P6 would be expected
to be equal to one.
In the flux-gradient-driven case shown in Figs. 3(a) and 3(b),
no peak in M(H) or P6 at the first matching field
is observed. This is due to the fact that the
large flux gradient at low
fields strongly distorts the VL.
This distortion makes it difficult to achieve commensurability
throughout the entire sample.
In the field-cooled situation shown in Fig. 2(a)
there is no gradient in the vortex density to
interfere with the vortex lattice ordering.
For the flux-gradient-driven case at
higher fields, B > 2
,
the gradient flattens so that the vortex
lattice can become commensurate with the pinning substrate over a large area.
We note that even for high matching fields
a small flux gradient will always be present so that
P6 will be less than one as seen in Fig. 3(b).
For weaker pinning,
fp
0.3f0,
the flux gradient is reduced at
low fields so that a peak in M(H) and P6 can be be observed at
B/
= 1.12
We find that this behavior is independent of system size.
At the MF's N = 5 and N = 6 the VL is highly
defective with P6(H) dropping as low as 0.5.
No peak appears in M(H)
for the second MF. For systems in which we have studied up to the
28th MF we also see some enhancements in M(H) and
P6(H) at the MF's predicted by Eq. (9),
although the features are washed out at high fields.
In Fig. 3(e) we show M(H) for a square pinning array with the same parameters used in Fig. 1. Again M(H) is large for low fields and rapidly falls off after the second MF. We can see a dip after the third MF and an overall enhancement in M(H) at the second, fourth, fifth, and eighth MF's, although no clear enhancement is seen at the sixth and ninth MF's even though the VL's observed through simulated annealing at these fields also appear in this flux-gradient-driven simulation. To examine the evolution of the vortices with four nearest neighbors we consider a slightly modified Voronoi algorithm in which the lengths of each side of a Voronoi cell are compared. If the length of any side is less than one-fourth of the average lengths of the other sides, then it is ignored. P4(H) first shows a peak at the second MF when the vortices form the lattice shown in Fig. 1(b). There is no peak in P4(H) at the first MF due to the large flux gradient. P6(H) shows a large peak at the fourth MF that corresponds to the triangular VL seen in Fig. 1(d). P6(H) then drops rapidly and P4(H) increases as the VL gains the square ordering seen in Fig. 1(e). P6(H) rises at the sixth MF and peaks at the eighth. In square pinning arrays, where we have gone up to the 28th MF, small enhancements of M(H) are observed for most of the MF's that produced ordered VL's. The results indicate that, without directly imaging the VL, it could be experimentally possible to deduce the existence of the ordered vortex arrays seen here, by looking for a specific sequence of peaks in M(H), at least up to the fifth matching field. Beyond the fifth matching field we observe only very small peaks in M(H), which may make them difficult to see experimentally.
Our results are only valid for pins small enough that
only one vortex can be trapped in each pinning site.
With triangular pinning, peaks in M(H) should
in principle occur for MF's
N that satisfy Eq. (9). For square pinning arrays, we observe that
peaks in M(H) occur for MF's given by
N = n2+m2, when N
10,
and by
N = n2+m2-1, when N > 10.
This pattern of peaks differs from those already seen
experimentally using periodic pinning arrays with
large pinning radii, as first shown in Ref. 12. In
experiments, peaks in M(H) are usually observed at every MF
due to multiple vortices being trapped in pinning sites.
9,11
To compare the effects of random pinning to square and triangular arrays, in Fig. 3(i) we plot M(H), and in Figs. 3(j)-3(l) we plot Pk(H) for a sample with the same pinning parameters as in Figs. 3(a) and 3(e) except the pinning sites are placed in a random array. It can clearly be seen that most of the peaks in Pk and M(H) are washed away with M(H) having a smooth falloff after the peak and the strong variations in Pk lost. The fraction of P6 gradually increases as the vortex-vortex interactions dominate at higher fields. At the matching fields, the random array of pins has no peaks or enhancements in M(H) or Pk. This suggests that the presence of peaks in the periodic pinning arrays are due to the commensurability effects with the pinning substrate.
The maximum value of the absolute value of M(H), |M(H)|, is
0.0095
/
for the random pinning in Fig. 3, while it is
0.015
/
for
the triangular array and square array. The latter value
is about 1.5 times larger than that found for the random pinning case.
This enhancement of M(H) occurs only for a limited range of fields. The
M(H) for the triangular pinning array falls to the same value as M(H) for
the random pinning array at
H
0.30
/
,
which is less than 2
.
The M(H) for the square pinning array
remains higher than the M(H) of the random pinning array until
H
0.45
/
.
This higher value of H at which the drop occurs for the square
pinning array is due to the strong commensurability at the 2nd MF for
the square pinning array, whereas for the triangular array the second MF is
a less stable defective honeycomb lattice. For the triangular pinning array
at the third MF,
M(3
)
0.004
/
,
while the random pinning gives
M(3
)
0.0025
/
.
For fields higher than the fourth MF, M(H) is of the same order for the
three pinning array geometries studied here.
x 36
up to
72
x 72
,
and we observe the same features
in all our simulations regardless of the system size.
We have also done simulations with different
pinning strengths and observe the same peaks in M(H)
and P6(H). This
reproducibility in the peaks in different simulations suggest that
the peaks are not merely fluctuations but are robust and reproducible results.
To further address this issue
we have included in Fig. 3 both M(H) and Pk(H)
for a system with the same pinning parameters
as in the first two plots of M(H) but with pinning placed
randomly. In this plot no peaks are visible in M(H) beyond the
initial peak nor are any peaks visible in Pk(H).
The same behavior for the random array is observed for different sized
systems. If the peaks in M(H) in systems with square and triangular
pinning are due to finite size effects such as commensurability with the
boundary conditions, then peaks in M(H) and Pk
for a system with the same size and boundary conditions
but with random pinning should appear as well.
The absence of any peaks in M(H) and Pk for the system with random pinning strongly suggests that peaks in these quantities for the square and triangular pinning array are due to commensurability effects with the pinning lattice only. It is important to stress that in our simulations, our analytical results and experimentally observed vortex lattice (VL) configurations are all consistent with each other.
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