Inverse melting and re-entrant transformations of the vortex lattice in amorphous Re6Zr thin film

Inverse melting and re-entrant transformations of the vortex lattice in amorphous Re6Zr thin film | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Inverse melting and re-entrant transformations of the vortex lattice in amorphous Re 6 Zr thin film Pratap Raychaudhuri, Rishabh Duhan, Subhamita Sengupta, John Jesudasan, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4576722/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Melting of a solid is one of the most ubiquitous phenomena observed in nature. Most solids, when heated, melt from a crystalline state to an isotropic liquid at a characteristic temperature. There are however situations where increase in temperature can induce a transition to a more ordered state 1 . Broadly termed as “inverse melting”, experimental realisations of such situations are rare 2,3,4 . Here, we report such a phenomenon in the 2-dimensional vortex liquid that forms in a moderately pinned amorphous Re 6 Zr (a-ReZr) thin film, from direct imaging of the vortex lattice using a scanning tunnelling microscope. At low temperature and magnetic fields, we find that the vortices form a “pinned liquid”, that is characterised by a low mobility of the vortices and vortex density that is spatially inhomogeneous. As the temperature or magnetic field is increased the vortices become more ordered, eventually forming a nearly perfectly ordered vortex lattice. Above this temperature/magnetic field, the ordered vortex lattice melts again into a vortex liquid. This re-entrant transformation from a liquid to solid-like state and then back to a liquid also leaves distinct signature in the magnetotransport properties of the superconductor. Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed-matter physics/Superconducting properties and materials Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed-matter physics/Surfaces, interfaces and thin films Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed-matter physics/Phase transitions and critical phenomena Physical sciences/Materials science/Condensed-matter physics/Superconducting properties and materials Physical sciences/Materials science/Condensed-matter physics/Structure of solids and liquids Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Supplementarydraft05624.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4576722","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":316412495,"identity":"31e9a7b6-e2e8-4660-9285-0ab405fbae15","order_by":0,"name":"Pratap 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Most solids, when heated, melt from a crystalline state to an isotropic liquid at a characteristic temperature. There are however situations where increase in temperature can induce a transition to a more ordered state\u003csup\u003e1\u003c/sup\u003e. Broadly termed as “inverse melting”, experimental realisations of such situations are rare\u003csup\u003e2,3,4\u003c/sup\u003e. Here, we report such a phenomenon in the 2-dimensional vortex liquid that forms in a moderately pinned amorphous Re\u003csub\u003e6\u003c/sub\u003eZr (a-ReZr) thin film, from direct imaging of the vortex lattice using a scanning tunnelling microscope. At low temperature and magnetic fields, we find that the vortices form a “pinned liquid”, that is characterised by a low mobility of the vortices and vortex density that is spatially inhomogeneous. As the temperature or magnetic field is increased the vortices become more ordered, eventually forming a nearly perfectly ordered vortex lattice. Above this temperature/magnetic field, the ordered vortex lattice melts again into a vortex liquid. 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