Phase-locking of driven vortex lattices with transverse ac force and periodic pinning

CHARLES REICHHARDT, ALEJANDRO B. KOLTON, DANIEL DOMÍNGUEZ, AND NIELS GRØNBECH-JENSEN

PHYSICAL REVIEW B - CONDENSED MATTER AND MATERIALS PHYSICS

The American Physical Society

Lugar: USA; Año: 2001 vol. 64 p. 134508 - 134508

0163-1829

For a vortex lattice moving in a periodic array we show analytically and numerically that a new type of phase locking occurs in the presence of a longitudinal dc driving force and a transverse ac driving force. This phase locking is distinct from the Shapiro step phase locking found with longitudinal ac drives. We show that an increase in critical current and a fundamental phase-locked step width scale with the square of the driving ac amplitude. Our results should carry over to other systems such as vortex motion in Josephson-junction arrays.