Abstract
A state-of-the-art scanning hall probe microscope has been used to investigate the vortex lattice melting transition in high quality Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ crystals with single vortex resolution. At low applied magnetic fields repeating striped regions (~10(µm wide) of strong pinning sites are observed parallel to one of the in-plane crystallographic axes which persist almost up to Tc. At higher fields these regions modulate the local induction profile and lead to the formation of an intermediate state of coexisting solid and liquid stripes through the melting transition. In studies with high spatial resolution we observe pronounced rotations of the hexagonal vortex structure as the field is raised towards the melting line. An abrupt discontinuous loss of vortex amplitude at the melting field is indicative of a first order phase transition, yet a pronounced downturn in amplitude as it is approached from below is suggestive that two different physical mechanisms may be important.
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