Crossing lattices in thin films of isotropic superconductors

Abstract

There has been considerable recent interest in the vortex state in highly anisotropic high-temperature superconductors in which the orthogonal pancake chain and Josephson vortices interpenetrate to form a crossed lattice. This paper reports magnetization measurements on thin films of conventional superconductors in which the field is applied at a small angle to the film plane. The experimental results demonstrate that the equilibrium vortex lattice structure under this condition consists of a similar interpenetrating lattice of orthogonal Abrikosov vortices and the crossed lattice is calculated to be the lowest-energy configuration.