Possible Evidence for A Slush Vortex Phase in the Vicinity of Vortex Glass Transition in YBa$_{2}$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ Thin Films

Abstract

Current-voltage $I-V$ curves have been carefully measured for YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ thin films by following different thermal or field annealing procedures. Although all data can be described quite well by the vortex-glass theory, it is found that the dissipation in a small region just above the vortex-glass transition is history dependent: the dissipation in the warming up or field-increasing process is larger than that in the cooling down or field-decreasing process. We attribute this history dependent dissipation to possible existence of a slush vortex phase.