Helicity modulus and fluctuating type-II superconductors: Elastic approximation and numerical simulations

Abstract

We develop the helicity modulus as a criterion for superconducting order in the mixed phase of a fluctuating type II superconductor. We show that there is a duality relation between this helicity modulus and the superfluid density of a system of analog 2D bosons. We show that the vortex line lattice exhibits a perfect Meissner effect with respect to a shearing perturbation of the applied magnetic field, and this becomes our creterion for "longitudinal superconductivity" parallel to the applied field. We present arguments based on the 2D boson analogy, as well as the results of numerical simulations, that suggest that longitudinal superconductivity can persist into the vortex line liquid state for systems of finite thickness, comparable to those commonly found in experiments.