Crossover between magnetic vortex attraction and repulsion in thin films of layered superconductors

Abstract

In thin films of anisotropic superconductors, the intervortex interaction may be strongly modified because of the interplay between the long-ranged repulsion caused by an extremely slow decay of the supercurrent induced by a single vortex line (Pearl's effect) and the attraction caused by the tilt of the vortex lines with respect to the anisotropy axes. We present a theoretical analysis and Lorentz microscopy experimental data for high-temperature superconducting cuprates which provide evidence of such interplay. Moreover we report on a theoretical prediction of a very special type of the vortex arrangement---the formation of the vortex molecules.