Rotation of Triangular Vortex Lattice in the Two-Band Superconductor MgB2

Abstract

To identify the contributions of the multiband nature and the anisotropy of a microscopic electronic structure to a macroscopic vortex lattice morphology, we develop a method based on the Eilenberger theory near Hc2 combined with the first-principles band calculation to estimate the stable vortex lattice configuration. For a typical two-band superconductor MgB2, successive transitions of vortex lattice orientation that have been observed recently by small angle neutron scattering [Das, et al.: Phys. Rev. Lett. 108 (2012) 167001] are explained by the characteristic field-dependence of twoband superconductivity and the competition of sixfold anisotropy between the sigma- and pi-bands. The reentrant transition at low temperature reflects the Fermi velocity anisotropy of the sigma-band.