Low-field vortex melting in a single crystal of Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2

Abstract

Theoretically, the vortex melting phenomenon occurs at both low and high magnetic fields at a fixed temperature. While the high field melting has been extensively investigated in high Tc cuprates, the low field melting phenomena in the presence of disorder hasn't been well explored. Using bulk magnetization measurement and high-sensitivity differential magneto-optical imaging technique, we detect a low-field vortex melting phenomenon in a single crystal of Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2. The low field melting is accompanied by a significant change in local magnetization ~ 3 G, which decreases with increasing applied field. The observed vortex melting phenomena is traced on a field temperature phase diagram and which lies very close to theoretically predicted Lindemann criteria based low field melting line. Our analysis shows a Lindemann number cL = 0.14 associated with the low field melting. Imaging of low-field vortex melting features shows the process nucleates via formation of extended finger-like projections which spreads across the sample with increasing field or temperature, before entering into an interaction-dominated vortex solid phase regime. Magnetization scaling analysis shows that the dimensionality of melting vortex state is close to one. Angular dependence of bulk magnetization hysteresis loop in our sample shows the presence of extended defects. From our studies, we propose the sample contains a peculiar geometry of extended defects arranged in a plane in the sample, with these planes extending through the sample thickness. In the weak intervortex interaction limit, we argue that reduced vortex dimensionality due to pinning by these peculiar extended defect planes strongly enhances thermal fluctuations. It is these extended defects planes, which we propose are promoting low dimensional vortex melting in the pnictide system.