Transport signatures of fragile glass dynamics in the melting of the two-dimensional vortex lattice

In a two-dimensional superconducting vortex lattice, the melting from the solid to the isotropic liquid can occur via an intermediate phase that retains orientational correlations. The effect of such correlations on transport and their interplay with the quenched disorder remain open questions. We perform magnetotransport measurements in a wide range of temperatures and magnetic fields on a weakly pinned two-dimensional vortex system in amorphous MoGe films. While at high fields, where quenched disorder dominates, we recover the typical strong-glass behavior of a vortex liquid, at low fields the resistivity shows a clear crossover to a fragile vortex glass. Our findings, supported by numerical simulations, suggest that this is a signature of heterogeneous dynamics that arises from the presence of orientational correlations.

Automated summary

In a two-dimensional superconducting vortex lattice, melting from solid to isotropic liquid occurs via an intermediate phase with orientational correlations. The impact of such correlations on transport and their interaction with quenched disorder are still unknown.