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# STELIB: a library of stellar spectra at R∼2000 Based on observations collected with the Jacobus Kaptein Telescope, (owned and operated jointly by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the United Kingdom, the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek of the Netherlands and the Instituto de Astrof sica de Canarias of Spain and located in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos on La Palma which is operated by the Instituto de Astrof sica de Canarias), the 2.3m telescope of the Australian National University at Siding Spring, Australia, and the VLT-UT1 Antu Telescope (ESO).

## 1 Introduction

Evolutionary population synthesis models that describe the chemical and spectral evolution of stellar systems in detail are fundamental tools in the analysis of observations of both nearby and distant galaxies (e.g. Guiderdoni & Rocca-Volmerange Guiderdoni (1987), Buzzoni Buzzoni (1989), Bruzual & Charlot Bruzual (1993), Fioc & Rocca-Volmerange Fioc (1997)). They are needed to determine the stellar populations in a variety of systems, spanning a wide range of metallicities, from early type galaxies and spiral bulges to star forming galaxies at different redshifts.
The possibility of building detailed spectro-chemical evolution models of stellar populations using evolutionary synthesis techniques is limited by the lack of comprehensive empirical libraries of stellar spectra, comprising stars with metallicities ranging from well below solar (\[Fe/H\] from -2 to -1) to above solar (\[Fe/H\]$`>`$0). Direct inversions of galaxy spectra (Pelat Pelat (1997), Boisson et al. Boisson (2000)) are also handicaped by this shortage. Current synthesis models based on empirical stellar data are mostly restricted to solar metallicity. In the visible range, they are largely based on the spectral atlas of Gunn & Stryker (Gunn (1983)) or the more recent (and not completely independent) atlas of Pickles (Pickles (1998)).
The use of theoretical stellar spectra such as Kurucz’ (Kurucz (1992)) instead of empirical libraries is a priori preferable, because they can be computed for a dense grid of fundamental parameters (metallicity, gravity, effective temperatures), thus avoiding interpolation errors and calibrations. However, the resulting synthetic spectra do not in general reproduce the spectral features observed in composite stellar populations with the same degree of accuracy as models based solely on observed stellar spectra. Methods to achieve photometric compatibility between models and data have been developed (Lejeune et al. Lejeune97 (1997)), and extended and homogeneous libraries of theoretical spectra covering the bulk of the HR-diagram and a wide range of metallicities are now available (Lejeune et al. Lejeune98 (1998), Westera et al. Westera (2002)). While this represents a major improvement, such libraries still suffer from the limited resolution ($``$20Å in the optical). The determination of stellar populations in galaxies up to z$``$1 through optical spectroscopy requires spectral synthesis capabilities over a broad wavelength range ($``$3000Å to $``$1,$`\mu `$m). A minimum spectral resolution of a few Å is necessary to obtain constraints on age, metallicity and global stellar kinematics from absorption lines. The libraries presently available with a suitable spectral resolution (1-3Å) are often limited to a narrow wavelength range (Jones Jones (1997), Cenarro et al. Cenarro (2001)) or are restricted to particular spectral types (Montes et al. Montes (1999)).
The main objective of our stellar library STELIB is to provide a homogeneous set of stellar spectra in the visible range (3200 to 9500Å), with a relatively high spectral resolution ($`\stackrel{<}{}`$3Å) and sampling (1Å). This library includes stars of most spectral types and luminosity classes and spans a relatively wide range in metallicity. Most of the stars in our sample have measured metallicities.
The outline of the paper is the following. In Section 2 we present the observations. Section 3 describes the selection criteria and the overall characteristics of the STELIB sample of stars. The data reduction process is summarized in Section 4. Section 5 presents the content of the library STELIB, presently available through the web. In Section 6 we show some particular applications of STELIB to population synthesis studies, and we compare the performances of this library to previous results. The conclusions of this paper are given in Section 7.

## 2 Observations

The data were obtained during two runs, one at the 1m Jacobus Kaptein Telescope (JKT), Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain, between 1994 March 28 and April 4, and a second one at the 2.3m of the Australian National University at Siding Spring (SSO), Australia, between 1994 December 25 and 31. On JKT, we used the Richardson-Brealey Spectrograph with the 600 lines/mm grating. The detector was a EEV7 1242$`\times `$1152 CCD with a 22.5$`\mu `$m pixel. The slit width was 1.5 arcsec. This configuration gives a dispersion of 1.7Å/pixel and a resolution of about 3Å FWHM. We made use of both blue and red optics. With the blue optics, spectra were alternatively obtained with 2 grating angle settings: 18°giving a wavelength range of 2900Å-5100Å on the CCD (useful data start at $``$3200Å because of atmospheric cutoff) and 21°giving the wavelength range 4300Å-6500Å. With the red optics the grating angle settings were 24°and 27°for the wavelength ranges 6000Å-8200Å and 7600Å-9900Å, respectively. To maximize the efficiency, and to improve the calibration, each night was devoted to a single grating angle setting: changing the grating angle was done manually by opening the spectrograph. March 29 was an exception because 2 settings with the red optics were used (see Table 1 for details). Again to save time, the spectrograph was not rotated to align the slit on the paralactic angle, since it should have to be done manually on the telescope for each pointing. This should have no consequence because of the relatively short wavelength range of each individual spectra, the slit width of 1.5 arcsec, and also because we observed as close to the meridian as possible (the slit was set vertical when at meridian). During the JKT run about 1000 spectra were obtained on about 200 stars.

The spectrograph used at the Siding Spring 2.3m telescope was the Double Beam Spectrograph. This instrument has two beams split by a dichroic slide. The detectors were 2 1024$`\times `$1024 CCD’s, the blue channel CCD is UV coated. The grating used was also a 600 lines/mm giving a dispersion of 1.1Å/pixel (15 $`\mu `$m pixels). The slit width was 2 arcsec on the sky. The spectral resolution was less than 3 pixels FWHM with good focus, so about 3Å. The mode “vertical slit on sky” was used. Three configurations were defined:

* Configuration 1: wavelength range on blue channel: 3500-4500Å; on red channel: 6470-7550Å.
* Configuration 2: wavelength range on blue channel: 4475-5550Å; on red channel: 7500-8570Å.
* Configuration 3: wavelength range on blue channel: 5510-6550Å; on red channel: 8530-9650Å.

Table 2 summarizes the configurations used during this run. 36 stars were obtained at Siding Spring. They were selected mainly in the Large Magellanic Cloud or among local metal poor stars, in order to improve the coverage of stellar parameter space. Some Wolf Rayet stars were also observed.

## 3 Star selection

Most stars were originally selected from the catalogue of Cayrel de Strobel et al.(Cayrel92 (1992)) according to the value of \[Fe/H\]. Additional samples of 62 and 45 stars were selected to include targets with either near-IR spectra (from Lançon & Rocca-Volmerange Lancon92 (1992)) and/or UV data (from IUE) respectively.
The Tables 5 to 10 give the list of the 249 stars included in the library. Most of the atmospheric parameters (Teff, log(g), \[Fe/H\]) listed in Tables 5 to 10 come from the 2 latest editions of the Catalogue of \[Fe/H\] determinations (Cayrel de Strobel et al. Cayrel97 (1997), Cayrel01 (2001)). This compilation was complemented by accurate Teff listed in Blackwell & Lynas-Gray (Blackwell (1998)), di Benedetto (diBenedetto (1998)) and Alonso et al. (Alonso96 (1996), Alonso99 (1999)). We have also used the V-K colour index, when available, calibrated into Teff using the formulae of Alonso et al. (Alonso96 (1996), Alonso99 (1999)). Multiple determinations of atmospheric parameters for the same star were averaged, giving more weight to the most recent ones. Several stars with unknown atmospheric parameters were also part of the ELODIE database (Prugniel & Soubiran Prugniel (2001)). In that case we give the parameters determined by the TGMET method (Katz et al. Katz (1998)).
Absolute magnitudes M$`_\text{v}`$ were derived from the Hipparcos parallax and TYCHO2 VT apparent magnitude, transformed into V Johnson band (Høg et al. Hog (2000)) and corrected with Av measured on the spectra. M$`_\text{v}`$ is only given for stars having a relative parallax error lower than 30%. Uncertainties correspond to one $`\sigma `$ errors on parallaxes and V magnitudes.
Most of the stars in the library have accurate UBV photometry available from the Lausanne ”General Catalogue of Photometric Data” compiled by Mermilliod et al. (Mermilliod (1997)) and about half of them have R and I photometry. Fig. 1 shows the U-B vs B-V diagram corrected for the interstellar extinction with AV/EB-V=3.1, EU-V/EB-V=1.59, ER-V/EB-V=-0.88 and EI-V/EB-V = -1.60. The relations Teff versus color indices are displayed in Fig. 2. Finally, HR-type diagrams are shown in Fig. 3. In the log(g)/Teff diagram and MV/Teff diagrams, evolutionary tracks from the Geneva models (Schaller et al. Schaller (1992)) are displayed for solar metallicity. In the diagram MV versus Teff and MV versus B-V, MV are from the Hipparcos catalog (Perryman et al., Perryman (1997)). Fig. 4 shows the distribution of \[Fe/H\] as a function of Teff.

## 4 Data reduction

The basic data reduction was performed with iraf111IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, USA, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation, USA. except for the flux calibration of JKT data which appeared to demand non-standard procedures.
The wavelength calibration was done thanks to the acquisition of arc spectra from a Cu-Ne lamp for the JKT data and from He-Ar, Ar-Ne and Cu-Ar lamps for the SSO data. The typical number of lines used was 30 to 50. The rms of the residuals is of the order of 0.1 Å.

Table 3 gives the list of the standard stars observed at JKT. In average, 18 spectra of standard stars were obtained each night, enough to allow checking for atmospheric extinction. The examination of these spectra revealed strongly varying atmospheric extinction during the observations. Our interpretation is that the strong wind blowing from east was carrying dust from the Sahara desert. But we cannot exclude that it comes from differential atmospheric loss in the JKT narrow slit.
As a consequence, the direct use of the standard stars spectra, with a standard procedure to flux calibrate the spectra was not feasible. We then built a procedure to take into account various factors which affect the atmospheric extinction both in its absolute value and its dependence with wavelength.
The normal atmospheric extinction is modeled by the mean atmospheric extinction curve versus wavelength and the airmass at time of observation. The ”abnormal” extinction, possibly due to dust, is likely to change rapidly during one night. We calibrated this effect by using any observed star as a photometric standard star. The UBVRI photometry of most of our program stars are available in the Lausanne database (http://obswww.unige.ch/gcpd/gcpd.html) (Mermilliod et al., Mermilliod (1997)). However to do this, it has been necessary to take the variation of seeing into account. The seeing, measured on each spectrum from the profile of the star image along the slit, appeared to change significantly during the nights, typically between 0.6″and 1.5″. The light lost outside the slit differs as the seeing varies. To model it, we took into account the stellar profile and the slit width. The detailed modelling process was performed individually for each star. This operation gives an absolute mean value over the wavelength for a given grating angle setting to scale the spectra. Then, the observations of spectrophotometric standard stars were used to analyse the wavelength dependence of the additionnal extinction.

Fig. 5 and 6 show the comparison of the calibrated standard stars spectra with published SED. The spectrum of Vega (Fig. 5) was obtained only in the shortest wavelenth setting because of its brightness. The comparison for the other standards are shown in Fig. 6. The rms of difference between calibrated spectra of standard stars and published spectra, expressed in magnitude, are given in Table 3. They are computed avoiding the strong absorption lines where the difference of wavelength sampling introduces large dispersions.These rms are between 0.02 and 0.04 magnitude. An exception is HR2422 for which the rms is 0.058.
The SSO spectra were reduced using the standard procedures for flux calibration. Table 4 lists the standard stars used. Two target stars and one standard star observed in this run were also observed at JKT. We used these stars as an additional check on the reliability of the complex flux calibration procedure applied to JKT data. A good agreement was obtained between the two independent set of spectra. Fig. 7 shows the comparison of the calibrated standard stars spectra with published SED. As for the JKT standard stars, the rms of difference between calibrated spectra of standard stars and published spectra, are given in Table 4. They are also computed avoiding the strong absorption lines. The rms have similar values between 0.02 and 0.04 magnitude. One standard star, $`\eta `$ Hya, has been observed during both runs. The rms of the difference is 0.031 magnitude, of the same order than the rms of the difference between observed and published spectra. Thus, we can consider that 0.03 magnitude is the typical absolute photometric uncertainty of the library. In addition, the detailed comparison between the synthetic photometry derived from the STELIB library and the Lausanne database is presented and discused in Appendix A. Tables 15 to 18 provide with the UVBRI synthetic photometry for STELIB stars.

## 5 The library

Once calibrated, the spectra in the 4 (JKT) or 6 (SSO) settings of the program stars were combined by averaging the overlapping pixels. This results in 257 stellar spectra in fits format resampled with a step of 1Å per pixel. The library is available in two different forms: the ”raw” data, including the combined spectra as coming out of the calibration process, and the data corrected for interstellar reddening using the empirical extinction function of Cardelli et al. (Cardelli (1989)). As an additional check, we have compared the reddening corrected spectra (using the extintion values from the literature) to the equivalent ones in the Kurucz atlas (same spectral type and metallicity). In most cases ($``$80%), the agreement between the two spectra is excellent. In case of discrepancy ($``$20% of the sample), the extintion values used and quoted in the tables are those allowing to match our corrected spectra to Kurucz. These discrepant objects are clearly identifyed on the web site.

## 6 Synthetic spectra of stellar populations

Templates of stellar populations have been built from the dereddened library. At this stage, the wavelength scale was corrected for radial velocity. For some stars, data are missing in limited wavelength ranges: for these, we filled the gaps using spectra of stars of similar or close spectral type. The final spectra are useful from 3200 to 9300Å because spectra become noisy from 9300Å to 9850Å. In this way, we built several subsets of the atlas with different \[Fe/H\] ranges (Table 11). These subsets include a total of 242 star templates which are also available on the web site.

### 6.1 Comparison with Kurucz spectra

In order to compare with the previous results, and to show the capabilities of this new library, we have built galaxy models with the STELIB library in the apropriate subset, using the new galaxy evolutionary code GISSEL02 (Bruzual & Charlot Bruzual (1993)). The evolution of a single stellar population of solar metallicity (Z=0.02) is given in Fig. 8 and 9, for ages of the stellar population ranging from 1 to 12 Gyr. A comparison with the same models obtained with the synthetic stellar spectra from Kurucz is also shown to emphasize the gain in spectral resolution.

### 6.2 Modeling observed spectra of galaxies

An important application of STELIB is to reproduce in details the spectral features observed in galaxies at z$`\stackrel{<}{}`$1. As an example, we present here the modeling of spectra of galaxies belonging to the cluster AC114 (more officially named ACO S 1077, Abell et al., Abell (1989)) at a redshift of z=0.312, and some foreground galaxies in the same field. These spectra were obtained with the spectrograph FORS1 on VLT unit 1 Antu, on october 5, 1999. The main objective of the run was the determination of the redshift of background lensed galaxies, but spectra of cluster galaxies were also obtained in the remaining slits. The grism used was G300V, with a wavelength coverage between $``$4000Å and $``$8600Å, and a wavelength resolution of R=500 for the 1” slit width used which correspond to a resolution of $``$7Å at rest frame of the cluster. Details of the observation conditions and data reduction can be found in Campusano et al. (Campusano (2001)).

A simple best fit procedure has been used to determine the spectral type of each galaxy, acording to its spectral features (see table 12). We have chosen to display galaxies of different types, from E to irregulars, with good S/N ratio. The models correspond to the evolution with time of a Single Stellar Population (SSP) built with the STELIB library for solar metallicity, assuming Kroupa (Kroupa (2001)) IMF. The comparison between observed and modeled spectra is shown in Fig. 10. The best model was chosen among SEDs computed at 11 different ages from 100 Myr to 12 Gyr. The gain in spectral resolution is clear, with obvious applications in stellar population synthesis modelling. In particular, STELIB allows to determine the stellar populations using the strengths of a large number of absorption lines, due to the wide spectral coverage, and thus to improve the emission-line measurements in star-forming galaxies and AGNs.

## 7 Conclusions

We have presented the main characteristics of the public stellar library STELIB, available on the web site http://webast.ast.obs-mip.fr/stelib. The main improvements with respect to other previous libraries are:

1. The homogeneous and relatively large spectral coverage, from 3200 to 9500Å.
2. The high spectral resolution and sampling for such a spectral coverage.
3. The wide metallicity range, although the present sample still needs some completion for extreme metallicities.

We have presented some qualitative examples on the possible use of STELIB for population synthesis and evolutionary models of galaxies. Fundamental Plane studies of high redshift galaxies could be another possible application for STELIB (Treu et al. Treu (2001)). In general, STELIB should be a useful tool for detailed studies of galaxies at z$`\stackrel{<}{}`$1, based on optical spectra at intermediate resolution.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thanks J.-C. Mermilliod who provided us a file extracted from the Lausanne photometric database. Many thanks to Stépane Charlot for a careful reading of the manuscript. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. We are grateful to the help of the staff of Roque de los Muchachos Observatory at La Palma and of Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, where these observations were conducted. Some examples shown in this paper come from observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile (ESO N 64.O-0439). Part of this work was supported by the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and by the French Programme National Galaxies (PNG). G. Bruzual acknowledges ample support from the Venezuelan Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología and FONACIT. G. Bruzual also thanks Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées and the MENRT for their support during stays in Toulouse.

## Appendix A Synthetic photometry and photometric reliability of STELIB

We present in this section a detailed comparison between the synthetic photometry derived for the STELIB library and the Lausanne database (Mermilliod et al. 1997). Magnitudes for STELIB stars have been obtained using the flux calibrated spectra without any correction for dereddening or radial velocity. The photometric bands are UBVRI, with filter transmissions as close as possible to the Johnson filters commonly used in the Lausanne database. Table 13 summarizes the characteristics of the different filters.
Tables 15 to 18 provide with the UVBRI synthetic photometry for most of STELIB stars, together with the photoelectric photometry coming from the Lausanne database. Stars known to be variable or for which the spectrum is incomplete in a given filter have been discarded from this analysis. Almost all stars in this library have UBV Johnson magnitudes available, whereas R and I magnitudes are available only for 70% of the whole sample. In addition, magnitudes in the R and I bands are given either in the Johnson system or in the Eggen or Cousins systems. The later are identified by a comment in the last column of Tables 15 to 18. When a filter band is missing in the STELIB spectra, the corresponding magnitude is given by ”-” in the tables. A small extrapolation up to $``$100Å is allowed in U and I when needed, towards the blue and the red edges of the filters. The following caveats apply in the comparison of photoelectric with synthetic magnitudes derived from our spectra:

* The effective filter transmissions in the different bands could be different between the photoelectric and the synthetic magnitudes.
* The transmission of the Johnson U band has been set to zero in our calculations for wavelengths shorter than 3200Å, which corresponds to the blue limit of the STELIB spectra.
* Although the majority of stars in the Lausanne database are given in the Johnson system, STELIB spectra do not cover completely the standard I band. Thus, the effective transmission in the I band has been adapted to the red limit of our spectra in wavelength. When spectra extend up to $``$9800Å, we use the broadest and redest version of the I band filter, identified by $`I`$ in Table 13, which is closer (although not identical) to a true Johnson filter. For spectra with red wavelegth limits bluer than $``$9800Å, we used the I Cousins filter instead, identified by $`I_{Cousins}`$ in Table 13. These stars are identified by an asterisk in Tables 15 to 18.

Figures 11 to 13 display the residuals of the comparison between synthetic photometry and the published Lausanne database. Table 14 summarizes the dispersion values obtained in the different filters and colors. As expected, the smallest dispersions correspond to the B and V magnitudes and B-V colors, for which we have the highest degree of confidence in the correspondance between filter bands. For these 2 filters, the rms dispersion is quite consistent with the photometric accuracy derived from standard stars. The dispersion is much higher in the I band, as expected taking into account the inhomogeneities both in the photometric systems and the wavelegth coverage for the different objects. The situation in the U and R bands are intermediate. The wavelegth coverage could be responsible for the dispersion in U, (where the photometric systems are more consistent than in I), whereas the culprit in R is more likely the photometric system, but this point is difficult to assess. According to figures 11 to 13, there is no obvious color trend in the residuals neither in magnitude nor in color, except for the R-I and maybe in V-R in Figure 13. This color trend is due to a residual difference between the filters used to compute synthetic magnitudes and the true Johnson filter. On the other hand, the relatively small dispersion in the R-I residuals as compared to the corresponding dispersion in R and I magnitudes (Figure 13) indicates that the two photometric systems used are both internally consistent, but different from each other.


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# 1 (a,b) The Born diagrams for diffractive dijet production in high energy 𝑝𝑝̄ collisions with one, two rapidity gaps indicated by Pomeron, P, exchange. (c,d) The multi-Pomeron exchange contributions to the above processes, where the upper and lower blobs encapsulate all possible Pomeron permutations.

## Acknowledgements

We thank K. Goulianos for useful discussions. This work was partially supported by the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, and by grants INTAS 00-00366, NATO PSTCLG-977275, RFBR 00-15-96786, 01-02-17383 and 01-02-17095.


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# Vortex-unbinding and finite-size effects in Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 thin films

## I Introduction

For two-dimensional (2D) systems in which the conventional long-range order is absent Mermin , the definition of topological order and Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii (KTB) transition Berezinskii ; Kosterlitz ; Kosterlitz1  has been proposed, with the latter characterized by a sudden change in the response of the system to the external perturbation. This type of transition was originally not considered to occur in superconductors Kosterlitz  due to the dimensional restriction from the 2D penetration depth $`\lambda _{}`$($`\lambda ^2/d`$, with $`\lambda `$ the bulk penetration depth and $`d`$ the thickness of the film Pearl ), beyond which the logarithmic intra-pair binding interactions of vortices are saturated and free vortices will appear below the vortex-unbinding temperature. However, it was later argued that the KTB transition occurs in superconductors Halperin  in a practical sense if $`\lambda _{}`$ exceeds the system size, and this has been supported by experiments in dirty conventional superconductors Hebard  with the enhanced $`\lambda _{}`$.

For cuprate superconductors characterized by layered structure and high anisotropy, there have been early theoretical works about the KTB issue Rasolt . And the phase fluctuation has been argued to play an important role due to the low superfluid density Emery . This is supported by experiments including the high-frequency conductivity in underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (BSCCO) Corson , which revealed that the properties are dominated by the vortex-unbinding in the samples and that the short-time phase correlations persist above the superconducting transition temperature $`T_\mathrm{c}`$ and even up to the pseudogap temperature $`T^{}`$, and the Nernst effect in underdoped La2-xSrxCuO4 and Bi2Sr2-yLayCuO6 Xu ; Wang  reveals the existence of vortex-like excitation till the resolution limit (at temperatures 50-100 K above $`T_\mathrm{c}`$). The experiments probing the phase coherence have been considered much helpful in the research of KTB transition and high-$`T_\mathrm{c}`$ superconducting mechanism Millis .

As to the zero-field electrical transport characteristics, KTB theories have derived that Minnhagen ; Halperin , in the zero current ($`I0`$) limit, the exponent $`a`$ of current-voltage ($`I`$-$`V`$) relation, $`V=I^a`$, will jump from 3 to 1 at the KTB transition temperature $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$, and the linear resistance $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}`$($`lim_{I0}V/I`$) is proportional to $`\mathrm{exp}[2\sqrt{b/(T/T_{\mathrm{KT}}1)}]`$, where $`b`$ is a non-universal constant. These features in the thermodynamic limit have been originally used in the determination of KTB transition, and is usually referred to as ‘conventional approach’.

Besides, the dynamic scaling approach proposed by Fisher, Fisher and Huse Fisher  (FFH) has also been used in the study of KTB transition. In this ansatz, the data at finite currents are used in the scaling function, in which the dynamic critical exponent $`z`$, characterizing the relation between the relaxation time $`\tau `$ and the correlation length $`\xi `$ as $`\tau =\xi ^z`$, equals 2 for a 2D superconductor in zero magnetic field. With the connection $`a=1+z`$ at the KTB transition temperature, this corresponds to $`a=3`$ in the conventional approach.

The experimental transport results of KTB transition in cuprates remain controversial. There have been reports of KTB transition in YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) Matsuda , BSCCO Martin , and Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 (TBCCO)Kim ; Wen  systems. However, nanovolt-level current-voltage ($`I`$-$`V`$) measurements by Repaci et al.Repaci  on single-unit-cell YBCO films show ohmic behavior far below the nominal KTB temperature. There are even results of $`z6`$, as given by Ammirata et al. Ammirata  for the transport measurements of thin BSCCO crystal.

Holzer et al. Holzer  simulated $`I`$-$`V`$ curves for 2D Josephson junction arrays, and argued that for the finite-size effect data, the scaling parameters $`z`$ and $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ depends critically on the noise floor of the measuring system, and that the value $`z6`$ for a variety of 2D systems is related to the nature of data collection or the resolution of instrument, rather than characterizing some universality of physics.

Medvedyeva et al. Medvedyeva  argued that the FFH dynamic scaling method is only appropriate for those phase transition with a finite correlation length $`\xi `$, thus is not compatible with a system undergoing a KTB transition with $`\xi =\mathrm{}`$ at temperatures below $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$. Instead they took the finite-size effect into account and argued that, for a 2D system with linear size $`L`$, the scaling behavior should be dependent on $`L`$ rather than $`\xi `$ at low temperatures for which $`L<\xi (T)`$, hence the electric field $`E`$ and the applied current density $`J`$ can be scaled as $`E/JR_{\mathrm{lin}}=h(JLg_L(T))`$ for small values of $`J`$, where $`h(x)`$ is the scaling function and $`g_L(T)`$ is the function that makes the $`E/JR_{\mathrm{lin}}`$-$`JLg_L(T)`$ curves collapse. Moreover, they performed the numerical simulations on 2D finite size ($`L\times L`$) systems with resistive-shunted-junction (RSJ) model, and re-analyzed the experimental data of Repaci et al.. Both numerical and experimental results suggest $`z=2`$. At the same time, an exponent $`\alpha _L(T)`$, which may depend on the system size $`L`$ and the temperature $`T`$, has been defined in the finite-size scaling scenario by $`g_L(T)A_LR_{\mathrm{lin}}(T)^{\alpha _L(T)}`$, where $`A_L`$ is a universal constant for a given system with size $`L`$. Then it comes out that if $`\alpha _L(T)`$ is a constant ($`\alpha _L(T)=\alpha `$) for all the available data over a certain temperature region, the resistance will seem to vanish at the temperature for which $`z(T)=1/\alpha `$. For both 2D RSJ model and Repaci et al.’s data, it was found that $`\alpha 1/6`$ in a limited temperature region by using the finite-size scaling approach, which amounts to $`z6`$. However, on the analogy of the results of 2D RSJ model, it was concluded that there is always a linear resistance at any temperatures for a finite-size system, and $`\alpha 1/6`$ is only satisfied in a limited range, so the result $`z6`$ should not be considered as the symbol of a real transition.

In view of these controversies, we have carried out the research on Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 thin films. The $`R`$-$`T`$ and $`I`$-$`V`$ characteristics was measured in zero magnetic field. This paper will begin the analyses with the conventional approach which focuses on the slope $`a`$ of the logarithmic $`I`$-$`V`$ curves in the $`I0`$ limit, then the FFH dynamic scaling method will be used in analyzing the experimental data. Since the dynamic scaling method is argued to have some flexibility, the criteria of a real KTB transition proposed by Strachan et al.Strachan  have been used. Finally, we will follow the finite-size scaling procedures of Medvedyeva et al.. It is found that the experimental results are consistent with not only thermodynamic limit for which $`z=2`$, but also the exponent $`\alpha 1/2`$, where $`\alpha `$ is the exponent defined by Medvedyeva et al.. On the other hand, the evidence of the finite-size effect is also found, suggesting a crossover rather than a real phase transition near the vortex-unbinding temperature $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$.

## II Experiments

The Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 films were prepared by a two-step procedure on (001) LaAlO3 substrates. Details on the fabrication of the films have been published previously Yan . X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) taken from the samples show that only (00$`l`$) peaks are observable, indicating a highly textured growth. The films with thickness of 150 nm were patterned lithographically into bridges with lateral dimensions of 33 $`\mu `$m $`\times `$ 500 $`\mu `$m.

$`R`$-$`T`$ and $`I`$-$`V`$ curves were measured using a standard four probe technique with a Keithley 182 nanovoltmeter and a Keithley 220 current source. A pulsed current is used for the resistance transition measurement, and the temperature of the sample holder was stabilized to better than 0.1 K during the measurement for each $`I`$-$`V`$ curve.

## III Experimental results and analyses

The $`R`$-$`T`$ relation of the Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 thin film in zero magnetic field is shown in Fig. 1. According to the logarithmic plot in the inset, there is $`dT/d\mathrm{ln}R=0`$ at a finite temperature, suggesting the existence of a zero-resistance state below it.

The $`I`$-$`V`$ isotherms of the Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 sample are plotted in Fig. 2. For our data, the determination of $`a=3`$ in the conventional approach is carried out at a common voltage with the current as small as possible, which is in the vicinity of $`3\times 10^7`$ V. The broken line in Fig. 2 shows the condition $`a=3`$, therefore $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ is determined as 103.8 K. It is interesting that the logarithmic $`I`$-$`V`$ curves show a positive curvature just above 103.8 K, indicating a finite linear resistivity above $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$.

However, this conventional approach can be misleading Newrock  in checking for $`z=2`$. For instance, it is difficult to determine the position of $`a=3`$, and the determination of $`a(T)`$ for a common voltage range (instead of a common current range) will introduce the effect of non-universal length scales. Therefore the dynamic scaling approach proposed by FFH Fisher  is often used, in which the restriction of $`I0`$ does not exist and data at finite currents are also used in the scaling. Thus we will apply this approach to our data.

For 2D superconductors, the dynamic scaling relation given by FFH is

$$V=I\xi ^z\chi _\pm (I\xi /T),$$
(1)
where $`\chi _{+()}`$ is the scaling function above (below) $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$, and $`\xi `$, with the original definition of correlation length in KTB theory, is not suitable for temperatures below $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ because of its infinite value. It is then defined as the typical size of the vortex pairs below $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ (for $`\chi _{}`$)Newrock ; Ambegaokar . For convenience of scaling, Eq. (1) is often used as

$$\frac{I}{T}\left(\frac{I}{V}\right)^{1/z}=ϵ_\pm (I\xi /T),$$
(2)
where $`ϵ_\pm (x)x/\chi _\pm ^{1/z}(x)`$. To proceed with the scaling in the form of Eq. (2), $`\xi `$ was assumed to be of KTB form $`\xi _\pm (T)\mathrm{exp}[\sqrt{b_\pm /|T/T_{\mathrm{KT}}1|}]`$, where the footnote $`+()`$ means at temperatures above (below) $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$, and $`b`$ is a non-universal constant. The FFH scaling results of the $`I`$-$`V`$ data of YBCO film measured by Repaci et al. Repaci  suggest that $`z=5.6\pm 0.3`$ Medvedyeva . Following this approach, we show the scaling results of our $`I`$-$`V`$ data of Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 film with $`z=2`$ and $`z=5.6`$ in Figure 3(a) and (b), respectively. The data are plotted in lines rather than points in order to expose any shortcomings in the scaling collapse as suggested by Holzer et al. Holzer . The upper (lower) branch of the plots corresponds to the temperatures below (above) $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$.

For the high temperature ($`T>T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$) branch, the scaling collapse of data can be obtained with both $`z=2`$ and $`z=5.6`$. It shows that there is a crossover from $`I^{1+1/z}/(TV^{1/z})I\xi /T`$ to $`I^{1+1/z}/(TV^{1/z})=`$ constant when $`I`$ increases. This corresponds to the crossover from $`VI`$ to $`VI^{z+1}`$ for each $`I`$-$`V`$ isotherm, which is shown obviously in Fig 2, especially for those isotherms near $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$. The crossover from linear to nonlinear $`I`$-$`V`$ relation is reflected in both Fig. 3(a) and (b), and Fig. 3(a) shows a much less nonlinear part than Fig. 3(b).

While for the low temperature ($`T<T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$) branch, a much better scaling collapse can be obtained with $`z=2`$ rather than $`z=5.6`$. As a matter of fact, for the $`T<T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ branch of Fig. 3(b), a good scaling collapse is not available for $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ and $`b_{}`$ with any physically possible values. Moreover the $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ for $`z=5.6`$ is much different from 103.8 K, the value obtained from the conventional approach.

Holzer et al.Holzer  showed that for a finite-size system, the critical exponent $`z`$ derived from dynamic scaling becomes larger if the noise floor is lowered. This implies that the data with a fixed noise floor can be scaled with a $`z`$ value larger than the one characterizing a true phase transition, so there is some uncertainty if it is judged only from the dynamic scaling results Fig. 3(a) and (b).

Strachan et al. Strachan  argued that the FFH scaling collapse alone is not a sufficient evidence of the phase transition, and proposed a criterion to determine the existence of a real KTB transition. That is, the logarithmic $`I`$-$`V`$ isotherms should show positive concavity above $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$, while show zero concavity at the same current level below the transition temperature. Furthermore, it can be distinguished from the finite-size-caused ohmic tail that, the current density $`J_{\mathrm{co}}`$, at which the $`I`$-$`V`$ relation crosses over from ohmic to non-ohmic behavior, should increase with temperature above $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ for a true KTB transition, while decrease with temperature or be a constant for finite-size-caused unbinding.

This criterion has been used in Fig. 4, where the crossover current $`I_{\mathrm{co}}`$ is determined by $`V/IR_{\mathrm{lin}}=`$ 1.015, 1.02, 1.03 or 1.05 with $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}`$ the linear resistance. From 105.9 to 110 K, $`I_{\mathrm{co}}`$ increases with temperature. It is not available to see the temperatures between 103.8 and 105.9 K for the absence of the linear resistance, which may be caused by the limit of resolution.

At temperatures below 103.8 K, the logarithmic $`I`$-$`V`$ isotherms are straight (non-ohmic) at low currents, but tending toward ohmic at high currents, showing negative curvatures. This is similar to the $`I`$-$`V`$ simulations of Medvedyeva et al. Medvedyeva , which are interpreted Strachan  as a possible result of the applicability of FFH scaling, the saturation of current-induced unbinding, or the reaching of bulk critical current of the sample, etc.

Medvedyeva et al. Medvedyeva  also pointed out that dynamic scaling has much flexibility and can only be used in a system with the linear size $`L\xi `$, so it is not compatible with a system undergoing a KTB transition because the correlation length $`\xi =\mathrm{}`$ at temperatures below $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$, and therefore only the scaling function $`\chi _+`$ above the KTB transition is justified. As to the low temperature phase, the finite size $`L`$ of the system serves as a cutoff in the length scale instead of $`\xi `$, and a finite-size scaling form

$$\frac{E}{JR_{\mathrm{lin}}}=h(JLg_L(T))$$
(3)
has been used for smaller values of $`JLg_L(T)`$, where $`E`$, $`J`$ and $`L`$ are the electric field, the applied current density and the linear size of the system, respectively, $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}`$ is the linear resistance, and $`g_L(T)`$ is a function of $`T`$ and $`L`$, which will have a finite value if $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}`$ is finite, or will diverge with a vanishing $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}`$. To proceed with their discussion about the finite-size scaling, $`g_L(T)`$ was defined as

$$g_L(T)=A_LR_{\mathrm{lin}}^{\alpha _L(T)},$$
(4)
where $`A_L`$ is a universal constant which may depend on $`L`$. And it was claimed that if $`\alpha _L(T)`$ is a $`T`$-independent constant, Eq. (3) will be of the same form as dynamic scaling (an absolute correspondence requires $`g_L(T)=A_LR_{\mathrm{lin}}^{\alpha _L(T)}/T`$, but here the unimportant denominator $`T`$ was neglected), in spite of the entirely incompatible theoretical ground. Furthermore, if all the available data are within the temperature region for which Eq. (4) is established, there will be a transition at $`z(T)=1/\alpha `$ which makes $`g_L(T)\mathrm{}`$ and hence corresponds to a vanishing resistance.

Since $`V=LE`$ and $`I=LJ`$ for a 2D $`L\times L`$ system Medvedyeva , Eq. (3) is equivalent to

$$\frac{V}{IR_{\mathrm{lin}}}=h(Ig_L(T)).$$
(5)
As mentioned by Medvedyeva et al., the slope $`a(d\mathrm{ln}V/d\mathrm{ln}I)`$ should be a constant $`z(T)+1`$ at small current for each isotherm below the KTB transition. For a finite-size system, however, it will cross over to 1 in the $`I0`$ limit instead, resulting in the maxima in the plot. The maxima are controlled by variable $`JL`$ at low temperatures, while by variable $`J\xi `$ at higher temperatures above $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$. So there is also a crossover on the relevant current of each maximum, which occurs near the temperature at which $`L\xi `$ and is not much higher than $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$. These two crossovers, on the value of the slope $`a`$ and on the position of the maxima, have been claimed as the symbols of finite-size effect. Moreover, by comparison of the RSJ simulation data with the conventional KTB theory, it was concluded that the slope values $`a`$ at the maxima are the same as the ones in the thermodynamic limit, so the maxima can be used to determine the KTB transition with the conventional criterion that $`z=2`$ or $`a=3`$.

Fig. 5 shows the slope $`ad\mathrm{ln}V/d\mathrm{ln}I`$ got from Fig. 2 versus $`I`$ in logarithmic scale. The data beyond the noise background have been removed. $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ is 103.8 K, determined by the temperature of the $`a`$-$`I`$ curve which has the maximum of $`a(=z+1)=3`$. The result is consistent with that of previous approaches. Unlike the isotherms above $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$, there are no peaks appeared on the isotherms below $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$. When the temperature increases, the current at which the maxima appear decreases slightly at first, then increases rapidly (taking note of the logarithmic scale of $`I`$ in the plot), and the crossover occurs at the temperature of 105 K, which is somewhat higher than $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$. This agrees with the above picture of crossover on length scale ($`L`$-dominant to $`\xi `$-dominant) mentioned by Medvedyeva et al. from both simulation and the experimental results. A more detailed comparison with the work of Medvedyeva et al. suggests that in the $`L`$-dominant part of $`a`$-$`I`$ plot for Repaci’s YBCO data, the maxima appear at almost the same current, while for the 2D RSJ model, the maxima move toward the low current direction slightly with increasing temperature. Our data are more similar to the latter with more obvious decreasing.

The upturn of the curves at large currents may be caused by the heat effect hence it is not taken into account during the analyses.

Subsequently the question is whether the scaling given by Eq. (5) works. Fig. 6(a) shows the scaling collapse for our $`I`$-$`V`$ data. $`V/IR_{\mathrm{lin}}`$ is plotted against $`Ig_L(T)`$ and $`g_L(T)`$ is derived from the collapse of data. Because the linear resistance $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}lim_{I0}d\mathrm{ln}V/d\mathrm{ln}I`$ is required in the approach, which amounts to a requirement of a small current, the scaling is proceeded with the isotherms which can derive good linear resistance. The relevant temperatures are from 107.1 to 115.5 K which are above $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$ and in the regime where $`\xi <L`$. Nevertheless, the data show a good collapse for the finite-size scaling approach from a pragmatic point of view Medvedyeva . This connection of finite-size scaling with dynamic scaling implies the requirement that $`\alpha _L(T)`$ in Eq. (4) being a constant $`\alpha `$ is met.

For the temperatures lower than 107.1 K, including the region where the sample shows finite-size effect (at 105 K or temperatures lower, according to Fig. 5), the scaling collapses have not been obtained. This may be induced by the fact that the linear resistance $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}`$ and the voltage data at low enough currents, which are important elements in the finite-size scaling equation $`V/IR_{\mathrm{lin}}=h(Ig_L(T))`$, are not available.

To testify that $`\alpha _L(T)`$ is a constant and derive its value, the function of the form $`A_LR_{\mathrm{lin}}^\alpha /T`$ should be used to fit $`g_L(T)`$ (in Eq. (4) Medvedyeva et al. neglected the unimportant denominator $`T`$ in $`g_L(T)`$, but here we keep it for better accuracy in fitting), where $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}`$ is the linear resistance determined from small current limit of the $`I`$-$`V`$ isotherms, $`A_L`$ and $`\alpha `$ are two fitting parameters. For convenience of fitting with smooth functions, we divide it into two steps. At first, the function $`A_L^{}\mathrm{exp}(\sqrt{b_+/(T/T_{\mathrm{KT}}1)})/T`$ is used for fitting, with $`A_L^{}`$ and $`b_+`$ as two fitting parameters and regardless of the value of $`\alpha `$; secondly, linear fit the $`\mathrm{log}R_{\mathrm{lin}}`$-$`\mathrm{log}[\mathrm{exp}(\sqrt{b_+/(T/T_{\mathrm{KT}}1)})]`$ relation and derive the slope, which corresponds to $`1/\alpha `$. The above procedures come from the consideration that $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}\xi ^z`$, $`\xi \mathrm{exp}(\sqrt{b_+/(T/T_{\mathrm{KT}}1)})`$ and $`z=1/\alpha `$ in the context of Medvedyeva et al.Medvedyeva . These two steps are shown in Fig. 6(b). The fitness shows that $`g_L(T)`$ is most likely to be represented by $`\alpha =1/1.8`$ ($`z=1.8`$), which is much closer to $`z=2`$ rather than $`z=5.6`$. At lower temperatures there is a visible deviation from the fit, which may be caused by finite-size effect.

According to Medvedyeva et al.Medvedyeva , the above results suggest that, if going down from a high temperature, a resistive transition will occur at some lower $`T`$ outside the region where Eq. (4) holds (with $`\alpha =1/1.8`$). That should correspond to the KTB transition ($`z=2`$).

Because the $`I`$-$`V`$ data can be scaled with Eq. (5), the linear part at small current corresponds to $`V/IR_{\mathrm{lin}}=1`$. And if $`V/IR_{\mathrm{lin}}=c`$ is taken as the criterion of the onset of the nonlinear relation on the $`I`$-$`V`$ isotherms, where $`c`$ is a constant, we will have

$$\frac{V_{\mathrm{nl}}}{I_{\mathrm{nl}}R_{\mathrm{lin}}}=h(I_{\mathrm{nl}}A_LR_{\mathrm{lin}}^{\alpha _L(T)})=c,$$
(6)
where $`h`$ is the scaling function defined in Eq. (5), and ($`I_{\mathrm{nl}}`$, $`V_{\mathrm{nl}}`$) denotes the onset point on the $`I`$-$`V`$ isotherm, thus we have

$$\mathrm{ln}V_{\mathrm{nl}}=\left[1+\frac{1}{\alpha _L(T)}\right]\mathrm{ln}I_{\mathrm{nl}}+\left[\mathrm{ln}c\frac{1}{\alpha _L(T)}\mathrm{ln}\frac{c^{}}{A_L}\right],$$
(7)
where $`c^{}`$ is the constant which satisfies $`h(c^{})=c`$. Therefore if $`\alpha `$ is a constant within a temperature region, the logarithmic $`V_{\mathrm{nl}}`$-$`I_{\mathrm{nl}}`$ curve should be a straight line with the slope$`=(1+1/\alpha )`$ at these temperatures. So $`\alpha `$ can be determined directly from the slope of $`V_{\mathrm{nl}}`$-$`I_{\mathrm{nl}}`$ curve. This is exactly what Medvedyeva et al. did in Fig. 13 of Ref. Medvedyeva, .

Fig. 4 shows the $`V_{\mathrm{nl}}`$-$`I_{\mathrm{nl}}`$ curves with various criteria that $`V/IR_{\mathrm{lin}}=c=1.015,1.02,1.03,1.05`$, respectively. The relevant temperatures are from 105.9 to 110 K. There is a distinct crossover for each $`V_{\mathrm{nl}}`$-$`I_{\mathrm{nl}}`$ curve at 107.1 K, which is approximately the temperature that $`g_L(T)`$ begins to deviate obviously from $`A_LR_{\mathrm{lin}}^\alpha `$ (see Fig. 6(b)) with a constant $`\alpha `$ value. As mentioned above, direct determination of $`\alpha `$ (or $`z`$) from the slope of $`V_{\mathrm{nl}}`$-$`I_{\mathrm{nl}}`$ curves only makes sense when $`\alpha `$ is a constant, thus the linear fit of $`V_{\mathrm{nl}}`$-$`I_{\mathrm{nl}}`$ curves should be carried out above 107.1 K, as shown by the dash lines. The results should be more reliable as the parameter $`c`$ decreases because the scaling function Eq. (5) is satisfied at currents not very high Medvedyeva . And the small $`c`$ results show that $`z2`$.

Fig. 7 shows the temperature dependence of linear resistance. The data obey Kosterlitz relation ($`R_{\mathrm{lin}}\mathrm{exp}(\sqrt{b_+/(T/T_{\mathrm{KT}}1)})`$) above 107.1 K, but deviate from the linear relation below 107.1 K. This may be interpreted as the crossover to finite-size effect. The directly measured $`R`$-$`T`$ data with a finite current drop more sharply than $`R_{\mathrm{lin}}`$ do.

Since the above analyses suggest that the finite-size effect takes place in the $`I`$-$`V`$ data, the scaling collapse in Fig. 3 which is not so perfect can be attributed to that the data showing finite-size effect were scaled together with the data in the thermal dynamic limit by dynamic scaling method. So for the data at temperatures above $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$, if we remove those data showing finite-size effect and only consider the data at higher temperatures where $`\xi _+L`$, the scaling collapse should be better. This is exhibited in Fig. 8 with the relevant scaling parameter $`b_+`$ changed. It shows that both $`z=2`$ and $`z=5.6`$ can give good collapse, which also suggest that some criterion is needed to eliminate the uncertainty.

A pure KTB transition, in the thermodynamic limit, requires Newrock  $`L\mathrm{}`$ and $`\lambda _{}L`$. For the TBCCO sample with intrinsically high anisotropy, the estimated value of $`\lambda _{}(\lambda ^2/d)`$ is about 60 $`\mu `$m with $`\lambda =1500`$ Å and $`d=3.8`$ Å, and the lateral sample size $`L=33`$ $`\mu `$m, thus the sample size $`L`$ is not much larger compared with the size of vortex pairs and $`\lambda _{}`$ is not much greater than $`L`$, especially at zero temperature. Therefore the evidence of finite-size effect can be attributed to the finite cut-off length scale, which is $`L`$ rather than $`\lambda _{}`$ for our data near the critical temperature.

## IV Concluding Remarks

We have performed the conventional approach, FFH dynamic scaling approach and finite-size scaling approach proposed by Medvedyeva et al. on the data of thin Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 films in zero magnetic field. The data in the small current limit together with those of finite values are studied. The results from all these methods are consistent with each other that the $`I`$-$`V`$ characteristics are dominated by the vortex-unbinding with the nominal transition temperature $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}=103.8`$ K, and the dynamic scaling exponent $`z=2`$ hence the $`I`$-$`V`$ exponent $`a=3`$ ($`ad\mathrm{ln}V/d\mathrm{ln}I`$).

Besides, the evidence of finite-size effect is also found, that the maxima of slope $`a`$ of logarithmic $`I`$-$`V`$ isotherms cross over from $`L`$-dependent to $`\xi `$-dependent with the crossover temperature at 105 K, slightly above $`T_{\mathrm{KT}}`$. The finite-size-caused free vortices will lead to the absence of a phase transition in a strict sense, and will turn the phase transition into a crossover behavior Newrock . However, the finite-size effect in our experiments is not so remarkable that, even at the voltage measuring limit the $`I`$-$`V`$ isotherms are not showing a linear resistivity. Medvedyeva et al. Medvedyeva  gave an explanation for the $`I`$-$`V`$ data of Repaci et al. which show $`z6`$. The transition has been called a “ghost” transition because it is only a finite-size effect and does not occur in the thermodynamic ($`L\xi `$) limit. In our case, however, the transition at the temperature below $`\alpha =1/1.8`$ expected by the finite-size scaling should correspond to the vortex-unbinding transition with $`z=2`$, behaving more likely as the thermodynamic limit rather than a “ghost” transition. This can be interpreted by the high experimental temperature near $`T_\mathrm{c}`$ so that the size of our sample is not in the finite-size limit as that in the simulation work of Medvedyeva et al., therefore it is sufficient to bring a finite-size effect in the KTB transition but does not markedly change the $`z=2`$ result.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work is financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC 19825111) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (project: NKBRSF-G1999064602). We acknowledge fruitful discussion with J. M. Kosterlitz, Brown University.


text:
# Time Evolution of a Quantum Particle and a Generalized Uncertainty Principle

## 1 Introduction

One of the most difficult tasks of modern physics comprises the reconciliation of quantum theory (QT) with general relativity (GR). Though this is still an open problem, there are already some models that appear as feasible candidates. Among them we may mention string theory and quantum gravity, models that entail a modification of the well known uncertainty principle . The new form of this principle is closely related to the fact that the conventional notion of distance breaks down somewhere around the Planck distance, $`L_p=\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{}G}{c^3}}`$. This generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) implies also the correction of the commutation relation in the corresponding Heisenberg algebra .

The aforementioned change has also been derived not only in connection with quantum geometry , but also in association with the way in which quantum measurements alter the local spacetime metric . The emergence of a GUP in several models has suggested that it could be a very general characteristic shared by several theories . This last statement means that the analysis of the consequences of this kind of GUPs could render important conclusions about the physical implications of the attempts to quantize the gravitational field.

In the present work the relation between one of the possible GUPs and the time evolution of a quantum particle immersed in a homogeneous gravitational field will be analyzed. The motion equations for the momentum and position operators will be solved, and it will be shown that the momentum operator does depend in a novel way upon the mass of the involved particle. This kind of physical characteristics could be, in principle, detected. In other words, one way of confronting against the experiment some of the models around quantum gravity is given by the detection of the dependence upon the mass parameter of the expectation value of the momentum operator.

## 2 GUP and the motion equations in a homogeneous gravitational field

Let us now assume that the Heisenberg algebra takes the form

$$[\widehat{x},\widehat{p}]=i\mathrm{}\left[\mathrm{\Pi }+ϵ(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}})^2\widehat{p}^2\right].$$
(1)
Concerning this last expression it must be mentioned that $`ϵ`$ denotes a constant, additionally we have considered a one–dimensional system, of course, $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ denotes the unit operator. The reason for this last restriction stems from that fact that up to now there is no higher–dimensional generalization of (1) .

Consider now a very simple situation, namely a quantum particle of mass $`m`$ obeys the following Hamiltonian

$$H=\frac{p^2}{2m}mgx.$$
(2)
Clearly the involved gravitational potential is related to a homogeneous field. This is a very simple situation and it may be argued that it provides a very rough approximation to any realistic physical scenario. Nonetheless, we may justify the use of such a simple gravitational field as follows: the emergence of GUPs is a dynamical phenomenon, namely, it is related to the existence of fluctuations of the background metric . Hence, we may assume that in our context the background metric has been approximated by a weak field and slow motion limit, such that we may consider a Newtonian situation, and introduce the effects of the fluctuations of the metric, upon the dynamics of a nonrelativistic particle, taking into account a GUP in the motion equation for the corresponding operators.

Clearly, the assumption of a Newtonian limit is a very stringent restriction. Nonetheless, we may introduce it as the roughest approximation for the background geometry (but the one allows us to deduce an analytical solution to the motion equations), and consider the presence of GUP as quantum gravity corrections, associated with fluctuations of the spacetime geometry, that in our case has an average geometry provided by a homogeneous Newtonian gravitational field. In other words, the fluctuations in the geometry are introduced only in the modifications that they provoke in the Heisenberg algebra. Of course, a more realistic scenario has to consider a better approximation for the background geometry, but the present approach will give us a taste of the conceptual problems that might emerge if we consider, simultaneously, a gravitational field and a GUP, as fundamental elements in the time evolution of a quantum particle.

Hence, in the Heisenberg picture  the motion equations for the momentum and position operators read

$$\frac{d\widehat{p}}{dt}=mg\left[\mathrm{\Pi }+ϵ(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}})^2\widehat{p}^2\right],$$
(3)
$$\frac{d\widehat{x}}{dt}=\frac{1}{m}\left[\widehat{p}+ϵ(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}})^2\widehat{p}^3\right].$$
(4)
The solutions to these equations are, to first order in $`ϵ(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}})^2`$,

$$\widehat{p}(t)=mgt\mathrm{\Pi }+\widehat{p}(0)+mgϵ\left(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}}\right)^2\left[\frac{(mg)^2}{3}t^3\mathrm{\Pi }+mgt^2\widehat{p}(0)+t\widehat{p}(0)^2\right],$$
(5)
$$\widehat{x}(t)=\frac{gt^2}{2}\mathrm{\Pi }+\frac{t}{m}\widehat{p}(0)+\widehat{x}(0)+gϵ\left(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}}\right)^2\left[\frac{(mg)^2}{3}t^4\mathrm{\Pi }+\frac{4}{3}mgt^3\widehat{p}(0)+2t^2\widehat{p}(0)^2\right].$$
(6)
Here $`\widehat{p}(0)`$ and $`\widehat{x}(0)`$ are the initial momentum and position operators, respectively, which satisfy the commutation relation

$$[\widehat{x}(0),\widehat{p}(0)]=i\mathrm{}\left[\mathrm{\Pi }+ϵ(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}})^2\widehat{p}(0)^2\right].$$
(7)
Resorting to the aforementioned solutions, and to the last commutation relation, it is readily seen that

$$[\widehat{x}(t),\widehat{p}(t)]=i\mathrm{}\left[\mathrm{\Pi }+ϵ(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}})^2\widehat{p}(t)^2\right].$$
(8)
From the last expression we have that our GUP is always fulfilled. At this point it is noteworthy to comment that one of the consequences of a GUP like (1) is the fact that no physical state is a position eigenstate . Notice that in our approach we have not considered position eigenstates, instead, we deal with position and momentum operators, i.e., we use Heisenberg picture.

Consider now a quantum system whose vector state $`|\alpha >`$ is an eigenvector of the momentum operator, for our GUP this condition is, mathematically, consistent .

$$\frac{<\alpha |\widehat{p}(t)|\alpha >}{m}=\frac{P(0)}{m}+gt\left\{1+ϵ\left(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}}\right)^2\left[\frac{(mgt)^2}{3}\mathrm{\Pi }+mgtP(0)+P(0)^2\right]\right\}.$$
(9)
Here $`P(0)=<\alpha |\widehat{p}(0)|\alpha >`$. At this point it is noteworthy to comment that we have imposed no restriction upon $`|\alpha >`$, therefore we may consider that it is related to the center of mass of a macroscopic body. Clearly (9) contains a novel mass dependence of the expection value. Indeed, $`<\alpha |p(t)|\alpha >/m`$ is not mass independent. In the limit $`ϵ0`$, the last two expressions, show that the Newtonian situation is recovered.

Here we must add that there are further generalizations of (1)  which include a term with the form $`\beta (x/L_p)^2`$, and we could wonder about the possible effects of this kind of terms on the dynamics of our particle. Taking a look at (3) we may understand (on classical grounds) the last term on the right–hand side as an additional force, and the introduction of $`\beta 0`$ will not cancel, in the general case, the effects of $`ϵ(L_p/\mathrm{})^2p^2`$. In other words, a deeper modification of the Heisenberg algebra would have similar consequences upon the dynamics of our quantum system.

## 3 Conclusions

We have considered a quantum particle moving in a region where a homogeneous gravitational field is present, this field is introduced as an average geometry, and the fluctuations of the geometry have been introduced only in context of the modifications that they provoke in the commutation relations. Assuming a GUP, it was proved that $`<\alpha |p(t)|\alpha >/m`$ is, in the general case, not mass independent, the consequences of this last fact could be far–reaching. Clearly, expression (9) shows that WEP is not fulfilled. Here, following , WEP reads: if an uncharged test body is placed at an initial event in spacetime and given an initial velocity then its subsequent trajectory will be independent of its internal structure and composition. In other words, the presence of a GUP may be understood as an additional force in the dynamics of our particle. This last remark may be rephrased stating that one way of confronting against the experiment some of the models around quantum gravity is given by the detection of the dependence upon the mass parameter of the expectation value of the momentum operator.

Of course, we must also address the issue concerning the feasibility of the detection of this type of effects. From (9) it is readily seen that the detection depends, critically, upon the magnitude of the term $`ϵ\left(\frac{L_p}{\mathrm{}}\right)^2`$. Here we face, from the very outset severe problems:

Firstly, the magnitude of $`ϵ`$, which here is a free parameter, can not be predicted from model–independent arguments. In other words, in order to have a value for this paramater we must consider a particular model , either string theory  (where the aforementioned parameter is related to the Regge slope), quantum geometry  (here the parameter is a function of an upper bound associated to the proper acceleration experienced by massive particles along their worldlines), etc., etc.

Secondly, the current experiments in the realm of WEP are almost always performed resorting to classical systems , and the present approach requires the test of WEP employing a quantum particle.

Summing up, the connection with the experiment requires a more careful analysis, and the feasibility of the possible experimental proofs needs a deeper study. The possible violation of WEP, as a consequence of the presence of a GUP, could seem a very strong drawback of the model. Nevertheless, quantum gravity effects imply the violation of some very well accepted symmetries , for instance, the possible emergence of a deformed dispersion relation in the study of photon propagation  (as a consequence, for example, of the polymer–like structure of spacetime) renders the breakdown of Lorentz symmetry . This last remark allows us to contemplate the violation of WEP, stemming from quantum gravity effects, without any surprise.

Finally, at this point it is noteworthy to comment that the concept of metric theory of gravity (see page 22 of ) relies upon the validity of the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP), and therefore the possible consequences of the present analysis in the context of metric theories could be also interesting .

Acknowledgments.

The author would like to thank A. A. Cuevas–Sosa for his help.


text:
# Multi-gap discrete vector solitons

## Abstract

We analyze nonlinear collective effects in periodic systems with multi-gap transmission spectra such as light in waveguide arrays or Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices. We demonstrate that the inter-band interactions in nonlinear periodic gratings can be efficiently managed by controlling their geometry, and predict novel types of discrete vector solitons supported by nonlinear coupling between different bandgaps and study their stability.

Periodic structures are common in nature, with the crystalline lattice being the most familiar example. One of the important common features of such systems is the existence of frequency gaps in the transmission spectra which can dramatically affect both propagation and localization of waves. Moreover, the modern technology allows creating different structures with an artificial periodicity, and the recent examples are photonic crystals, which can control propagation and emission of electromagnetic waves Joannopoulos:1995:PhotonicCrystals , and optical lattices, which are used to trap and manipulate atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) Cataliotti:2001-843:SCI . An unprecedented level of control over such engineered structures can be realized by tailoring both location and width of multiple band-gaps with additional modulation of the structure parameters. For example, it has been shown that atomic BEC can demonstrate a rich variety of phase transitions in optical superlattices Roth:cond-mat/0205412:ARXIV , and the reduced-symmetry photonic crystals allow self-localization of waves in mini-gaps Mingaleev:2001-5474:PRL .

The response of many systems becomes nonlinear at higher energy densities. This phenomenon may have various physical origins, such as the charge recombination in biased photorefractive crystals Yeh:1993:IntroductionPhotorefractive , excitation of higher energy levels in semiconductors Luther-Davies:2001-19:SpatialOptical , or atomic interaction in BEC Dalfovo:1999-463:RMP . In periodic media, nonlinearity produces a shift of the band-gap spectrum, and this physical mechanism is responsible for a number of remarkable effects, including the formation of gap solitons deSterke:1994-203:ProgressOptics . Such nonlinear localized modes can be excited within multiple spectral gaps of a periodic structure, as was first demonstrated experimentally for temporal optical pulses in fiber Bragg gratings Eggleton:1996-1223:OL . Since the pulses extend over hundreds of grating periods, the gap-soliton dynamics is usually described by averaged coupled-mode equations with constant coefficients Broderick:1995-5788:PRE . In contrast, spatial optical beams in waveguide arrays and matter waves in BEC can span over a few periods of the structure. Under such conditions the wave profiles are essentially discretized by the underlying periodic structure, strongly affecting the properties of discrete solitons Eisenberg:2002-2938:JOSB ; Sukhorukov:2003-31:IQE .

Spatial optical solitons associated with the first spectral band of the multi-band transmission spectrum have been extensively studied both theoretically and experimentally in arrays of coupled optical waveguides Eisenberg:2002-2938:JOSB . Very recently, spatial gap solitons localized in higher-order bands have been observed as well Mandelik:2003-53902:PRL . Similar observation of matter-wave gap solitons in BEC loaded into an optical lattice is expected soon as well. However, the interaction properties of localized modes which belong to different gaps are not known. The existence of gap solitons is directly related to the band-gap spectrum, and the latter can be fine-tuned in superlattices. In this Letter, we reveal, for the first time to our knowledge, the fundamental links between periodic modulation of the medium parameters and nonlinear wave coupling between different gaps, and also predict the existence of multi-gap discrete vector solitons with nontrivial symmetry and stability properties. We believe that our results can stimulate and guide the future experiments on discrete gap solitons in optics and matter-wave physics.

Self-action and interaction of optical beams in a one-dimensional periodic structure of coupled optical waveguides with the normalized refractive index profile $`V(x)=V(x+h)`$ can be described by a set of coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations,

$$i\frac{\psi }{z}+\frac{^2\psi }{x^2}+V(x)\psi +𝐆(\psi )\psi =0,$$
(1)
where, in the case of optical waveguides, $`x`$ and $`z`$ are the transverse and longitudinal coordinates, respectively, $`h`$ is the spatial period, $`\psi =(\psi ^{(1)},\psi ^{(2)},\mathrm{})`$ are the normalized electric field envelopes of several co-propagating beams having different polarizations or detuned frequencies. It is assumed that the beams interact incoherently through the Kerr-type nonlinear change of the refractive index, $`G_m=_j\mathrm{\Gamma }_{mj}|\psi ^{(j)}|^2`$, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{m=j}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{mj}`$ are the self- and cross-phase modulation coefficients, respectively.

We note that the model (1) is equivalent to a system of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations describing the dynamics of multi-component BEC in 1D optical lattice, where $`\psi ^{(m)}`$ is the mean-field wave function for atoms in the $`m`$-th quantum state, $`z`$ stands for time, $`V(x)`$ is the periodic potential of an optical lattice, and $`𝐆`$ is the effective mean-field nonlinearity which appears due to the $`s`$-wave atom interaction. Although below we use the terminology from guided wave optics where the rapid progress in the experimental study of spatial optical solitons is observed, our results are equally applicable to the nonlinear dynamics of BEC in optical lattices.

Linear wave propagation through a periodic structure can be entirely described by the Floquet-Bloch spectrum of the eigenmode solutions of Eqs. (1) in the form $`\psi =\psi _b\mathrm{exp}(i\beta z+iK_bx/h)`$, where $`K_b`$ is the normalized Bloch-wave number and $`\beta `$ is the propagation constant. The Bloch wave amplitudes decay exponentially when $`\mathrm{Im}K_b(\beta )0`$, and this condition defines the location of gaps in the transmission spectrum. At the gap edges, $`K_b=0,\pi `$.

Nonlinearity manifests itself through an effective change of the optical refractive index which results in a local shift of the bands and gaps. This physical mechanism is responsible for the formation of gap solitons. When the band shifts are small, we can seek solutions of Eqs. (3) near the gap edges ($`\beta =\beta _m`$) in the form of modulated Bloch waves Sipe:1988-132:OL , $`\psi ^{(m)}=\phi ^{(m)}\psi _b^{(m)}\mathrm{exp}(i\beta _mz+iK_b^{(m)}x/h)`$, and obtain a system of coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations for the slowly varying envelopes,

$`i{\displaystyle \frac{\phi ^{(m)}}{z}}+{\displaystyle \frac{D^{(m)}}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{^2\phi ^{(m)}}{x^2}}+{\displaystyle \underset{j}{}}\gamma _{mj}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{mj}|\phi ^{(j)}|^2\phi ^{(m)}=0.`$ (2)
Here $`D^{(m)}=h^2^2\beta /K_b^2|_{\beta _m}`$ are the effective diffraction coefficients, and $`\gamma _{mj}=_0^h|\psi _b^{(m)}\psi _b^{(j)}|^2𝑑x`$ are the nonlinear coupling coefficients, where we assume the normalization $`_0^h|\psi _b^{(m)}|^2𝑑x1`$. It can be demonstrated Kohn:1959-809:PREV  that the diffraction coefficients $`D^{(m)}`$ are positive near the lower gap edges, and negative at the upper edges and, therefore, both bright and dark solitons can co-exist in the nonlinear media with either self-focusing or self-defocusing nonlinearities. Moreover, it immediately follows from Eqs. (2) that each soliton can support multiple guided modes in other band gaps, all such modes can be coupled together to form multi-gap vector solitons.

The simplified model (2) predicts stability of bright vector solitons Pelinovsky:2000-8668:PRE  when all $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{mj}`$ have the same sign. However, the applicability of Eqs. (2) is limited to small-amplitude solitons in the vicinity of the gap edges. Even in this regime, the important effect of the inter-band resonances, which can lead to the soliton instabilities Sukhorukov:2001-83901:PRL , is not taken into account by the envelope approximation (2). As the input power grows, the soliton width decreases and becomes comparable to the spatial period of the structure. This suggests that nonlinear properties should depend on the actual profile of the periodic potential $`V(x)`$. Modulated periodic structures or superlattices can then become an important tool to engineer both linear and nonlinear properties of the Bloch waves and gap solitons.

As an example, we consider a binary superlattice where the effective periodic potential is composed of two types (A and B) of separated individual potential wells, $`V(x)=_n[V_A(x+nh)+V_B(x+nh)]`$. Such superlattices can be produced by etching waveguides on top of a AlGaAs substrate Sukhorukov:2002-2112:OL , or induced dynamically by two overlapping mutually incoherent interference patterns in a photorefractive medium Fleischer:2003-23902:PRL , see Figs. 1(a,b). In order to analyze the properties of nonlinear waves of such superlattices, we employ the tight-binding approximation. This approach allows us to describe correctly the first two spectral bands, and the Rowland ghost gap Russell:1986-596:PRL  which is defined by a difference between the A- and B-type lattice cites. We present the total field as a superposition of the guided modes supported by individual potential wells, $`\psi (x,z)=_n[𝐀_𝐧(z)\psi _A(x)+𝐁_𝐧(z)\psi _B(x)]`$, where $`𝐀_𝐧`$ and $`𝐁_𝐧`$ are (yet unknown) mode amplitudes. Finally, we derive a system of coupled discrete equations for the normalized amplitudes $`𝐚_𝐧`$ and $`𝐛_𝐧`$,

$$\begin{array}{c}i\frac{d𝐚_n}{dz}+\rho 𝐚_n+\kappa ^1𝐛_{n1}+\kappa 𝐛_n+\chi _a|𝐚_n|^2𝐚_n=0,\hfill \\ i\frac{d𝐛_n}{dz}\rho 𝐛_n+\kappa 𝐚_n+\kappa ^1𝐚_{n+1}+\chi _b|𝐛_n|^2𝐛_n=0.\hfill \end{array}$$
(3)
Here, the key characteristics of the binary superlattice are defined by free parameters: $`\rho `$ is proportional to the the detuning between the propagation constants of the A and B-type guided modes, $`\kappa `$ characterizes the relative coupling strength between the neighboring wells on the right- and left-hand sides, and $`\chi _{a,b}`$ are the normalized nonlinear coefficients.

According to Eqs. (3), the linear Bloch-wave dispersion is defined as $`K_b=\mathrm{cos}^1(\eta /2)`$, where $`\eta =\kappa ^2+\kappa ^2+\rho ^2\beta `$. The transmission bands correspond to real $`K_b`$, and they appear when $`\beta _{}|\beta |\beta _+`$, where $`\beta _\pm =(\kappa ^2+\kappa ^2+\rho ^2\pm 2)^{1/2}`$. A characteristic dispersion relation and the corresponding band-gap structure are presented in Fig. 2(a). The upper gap at $`\beta >\beta _+`$ is due to the effect of total internal reflection (IR), whereas additional gaps appear due do the resonant Bragg reflection (BR).

It is well known that the material dispersion can be completely compensated by the geometrical dispersion in optical fibers Agrawal:1989:NonlinearFiber . More recently, diffraction management was realized in a periodic waveguide array structure Eisenberg:2000-1863:PRL . The natural open question is whether it is possible to control nonlinear coupling between the gaps by appropriate design of periodic structures. In order to answer this fundamental question, we study the dependence of the nonlinear coupling coefficients on the superlattice parameter $`\rho `$, while preserving exactly the same linear dispersion of Bloch-waves by a proper choice of $`\kappa `$. Our results are presented in Fig. 2(b), and they uncover the remarkable feature: nonlinear inter-band interaction coefficients strongly depend on the symmetry of the periodic structure, and this relation cannot be fully characterized just by the linear Bloch-wave dispersion. Thus, by changing the superlattice parameters it is possible to selectively enhance or suppress inter-band interaction.

To be specific, we consider the superlattice with symmetric inter-site coupling ($`\kappa =1`$) created in a self-focusing medium. Such a lattice can support two fundamental types of one-component bright solitons centered at either A or B cites, and these solitons exist in both the IR and BR gaps described by the model (3). We find that the powers of A- and B-type solitons become significantly different away from the band edges, see Fig. 3(a). The solitons of type-B in the IR gap are always unstable with respect to a translational shift (symmetry breaking), however the stability is reversed for discrete gap solitons in the first BR gap \[left part of Fig. 3(a)\] where type-A solitons become unstable. Additionally, the discrete gap solitons become oscillatory unstable above a critical power due to (i) internal resonance within the gap, first discovered for the fiber Bragg solitons Barashenkov:1998-5117:PRL , and (ii) inter-band resonances, first found for nonlinear defect modes in a layered medium Sukhorukov:2001-83901:PRL .

The mutual trapping of the modes localized in different gaps and the physics of multi-gap vector solitons can be understood in terms of the soliton-induced waveguides Ostrovskaya:1998-1268:OL . Therefore, the effect of discreteness on the inter-gap coupling can be captured by studying the guided modes supported by a scalar soliton in other gaps: the larger is the eigenvalue shift from the band edge, the stronger is the interaction. In Figs. 3(b,c), we plot the eigenvalues of the guided modes supported by the BR (gap) and IR solitons and observe two remarkable effects which cannot be captured by the simplified envelope approximation (2). First, the strength of the inter-gap coupling depends strongly on the soliton symmetry. Indeed, the type B soliton always creates a stronger effective waveguide, despite the fact that the soliton power in the BR gap is smaller compared to the type-A solitons. Second, the nonlinear inter-gap coupling decreases for strongly localized discrete soliton in the IR regime, as follows from the non-monotonic dependence of the gap-mode eigenvalues shown in Fig. 3(c).

The eigenvalues of the linear guided modes define the point where a multi-gap vector soliton bifurcate from their scalar counterparts. Initially the amplitude of the guided mode is very small, but it increases away from the bifurcation point, and the mode interacts with the soliton waveguide creating a coupled inter-gap state, see Fig. 4. In the vicinity of the bifurcation point, the soliton symmetry and stability are defined by the large-amplitude soliton component. For example, the AA-type discrete vector soliton shown in Fig. 4(III) is stable because the powerful A-type mode in the IR gap suppresses instability of the second component. However, as the power in the second component grows, the soliton properties change dramatically: (i) AA state becomes unstable, and at the same time (ii) a stable AB-type asymmetric vector soliton emerges, see the modes II and I in Figs. 4(bottom), respectively. These complex existence and stability properties underline a nontrivial nature of nonlinear inter-gap coupling between the localized components with different symmetries.

We notice that such a simple way to engineer nonlinear coupling in the superlattices can lead to novel effects in the soliton collisions. Both coherent interaction of solitons from one band and vector solitons with the components from different bands can be controlled by engineering the superlattice parameters, thus leading to novel features in the soliton switching and steering. These interesting effects will be discussed elsewhere.

In conclusion, we have studied nonlinear coupling and wave localization in periodic systems with multi-gap transmission spectra. We have predicted the existence of novel types of multi-gap vector solitons and studied their stability. Using the example of a binary waveguide array, we have demonstrated the basic concepts of the engineering of nonlinear inter-band interaction in such structures, which in turn determine the key soliton properties.

The authors acknowledge a support of the Australian Research Council and useful discussions with E. A. Ostrovskaya.


text:
# Nature of the vortex-glass order in strongly type-II superconductors

## Abstract

The stability and the critical properties of the three-dimensional vortex-glass order in random type-II superconductors with point disorder is investigated in the unscreened limit based on a lattice XY model with a uniform field. By performing equilibrium Monte Carlo simulations for the system with periodic boundary conditions, the existence of a stable vortex-glass order is established in the unscreened limit. Estimated critical exponents are compared with those of the gauge-glass model.

67.70.+n, 67.57.Lm

In spite of extensive studies for a decade, the question of nature of the thermodynamic phase diagram of random high-$`T_c`$ superconductors has remained unsettled. In zero field, the possibility of an exotic thermodynamic phase with broken time-reversal symmetry, called the chiral-glass phase, has been discussed. Even more attention has been paid to the in-field properties. For superconductors with point disorder, possible existence of a thermodynamic phase called the vortex-glass (VG) phase, where the vortex is pinned on long length scale by randomly distributed point-pinning centers, was proposed . In such a VG state, the phase of the condensate wavefunction is frozen in time but randomly in space, with a vanishing linear resistivity $`\rho _L`$. It is a truly superconducting state separated from the vortex-liquid phase with a nonzero $`\rho _L`$ via a continuous VG transition.

Since cuprate high-$`T_c`$ superconductors are extremely type-II superconductors where the London penetration depth $`\lambda `$ is much longer than the coherence length, it is important to clarify first whether the proposed VG state really exists in the type-II, unscreened limit $`\lambda \mathrm{}`$. Indeed, stability of the hypothetical VG state has been studied quite extensively by numerical model simulations . Many have been based on a highly simplified model called the the gauge-glass model. Previous simulations on the three-dimensional (3D) gauge-glass model gave mutually consistent results that a continuous VG transition occurred at a finite temperature characterized by the critical exponents, $`\nu 1.3`$, $`\eta 0.5`$, $`z45`$ .

The gauge-glass model has some drawbacks . It is a spatially isotropic model without a net field threading the system, in contrast to the reality. Furthermore, source of quenched randomness is artificial. The gauge-glass model is a random flux model where the quenched randomness occurs in the phase factor associated with the flux. In reality, the quenched component of the flux is uniform, nothing but the external field, and the quenched randomness occurs in the superconducting coupling or the pinning energy. It remains unclear whether these simplifications underlying the gauge-glass model really unaffect the basic physics of the VG ordering in 3D.

Recently, several simulations were performed beyond the gauge-glass model. The present author studied the type of the lattice XY model where the above limitations of the gauge-glass model were cured. While the VG state was found to be stable, the estimated critical exponents, particularly $`\nu 2.2`$, differed significantly from those of the gauge-glass model, posing a possibility that the gauge-glass model lied in a different universality class. However, due to the effect of employed free boundary conditions, the estimated critical exponents might possibly be subject to large surface effect. Vestergren et al studied a random pinning model which took care of the above limitations of the gauge-glass model in a different way, to obtain a finite-temperature VG transition characterized by the exponents, $`\nu 0.7,z1.5`$, which differed significantly from either those of Ref. or from those of the gauge-glass model. Olsson and Teitel claimed on the basis of their simulations on the lattice XY model with weak disorder that the VG order was not stable even in the unscreened limit. Thus, once one tries to go beyond the gauge-glass model, the present theoretical situation seems quite confused.

In the present paper, I study the lattice XY model of Ref., but now with applying periodic boundary conditions, to overcome the finite-size effect originated from surface. The Hamiltonian considered is

$$H=\underset{<ij>}{}J_{ij}\mathrm{cos}(\theta _i\theta _jA_{ij}),$$
(1)
where $`\theta _i`$ is the phase of the condensate at the $`i`$-th site of a simple cubic lattice with $`N=L^3`$ sites, and the sum is taken over all nearest-neighbor pairs. $`A_{ij}`$ is a link variable associated with the vector potential due to uniform external magnetic field of intensity $`h`$ applied in the $`z`$-direction. In the Landau gauge, it is given by $`𝐀_i`$=($`A_i^x`$,$`A_i^y`$,$`A_i^z`$)=(0,$`hi_x`$,0), where $`1i_xL`$ denotes the $`x`$-coordinate of the site $`i`$. Quenched randomness occurs in the superconducting coupling $`J_{ij}`$ which is assumed to be an independent random variable uniformly distributed between \[0,$`2J`$\], $`J>0`$ being a typical coupling strength. I impose periodic boundary conditions in all directions in order to eliminate surface ‘spins’ which might contaminate the bulk critical behavior. The field intensity is chosen to be $`h=2\pi /4`$ ($`f=1/4`$). The lattice sizes are taken to be multiples of four, i.e., $`L=8,12,16`$ and 20.

Simulation is performed based on the exchange MC method, where the systems at neighboring temperatures are occasionally exchanged. Equilibration is checked by monitoring the stability of the results against at least three-times longer runs for a subset of samples. Sample average is taken over 980 ($`L=8`$ and 12), 248 ($`L=16`$) and 200 ($`L=20`$) independent bond realizations.

We run two independent sequences of systems (replica 1 and 2) in parallel, and compute a complex overlap $`q`$ between the local superconducting order parameters of the two replicas $`\psi _i^{(1,2)}\mathrm{exp}(i\theta _i^{(1,2)})`$,

$$q=\frac{1}{N}\underset{i}{}\psi _i^{(1)}\psi _i^{(2)},$$
(2)
where the summation is taken over all $`N=L^3`$ sites. In terms of the overlap $`q`$, the VG order parameter and the Binder ratio is calculated by

$$q^{(2)}=[<|q|^2>],g=2\frac{[|q|^4]}{[|q|^2]^2},$$
(3)
where $`\mathrm{}`$ represents the thermal average and $`[\mathrm{}]`$ represents the average over bond disorder.

By inspecting the spatial pattern of the vortex snapshot and by calculating the Fourier amplitude of the spatial distribution of vortices, it is checked that no periodic vortex-lattice order is formed in the system.

The size and temperature dependence of the calculated Binder ratio is shown in Fig.1(a). As can be seen from the figure, except for the smallest size $`L=8`$, $`g`$ for different $`L12`$ cross at $`T/J=0.82\pm 0.02`$, indicating that the VG transition occurs at a finite temperature. The data show a rather clear splay-out, in contrast to the near marginal merging behavior observed for the case of free boundary conditions. In contrast to the case of the chiral-glass order in the XY spin glass, $`g`$ does not exhibit a negative dip characteristic of one-step-like replica symmetry breaking.

Further evidence of a finite-temperature transition is obtained from the mean-square currents. The current in the $`\mu `$ direction $`I_\mu `$ ($`\mu =x,y,z`$) is defined by

$$I_\mu =\frac{1}{L}\underset{<ij>\mu }{}J_{ij}\mathrm{sin}(\theta _i\theta _jA_{ij}),$$
(4)
where the sum is taken over all nearest-neighbor bonds along the $`\mu `$ direction. We calculate both the longitudinal (along the applied field) and the transverse (perpendicular to the applied field) mean-square currents given by

$$I_L^2=[<I_z>^2],I_T^2=[<I_x>^2+<I_y>^2].$$
(5)
As can be seen from Fig.2(a), the transverse mean-square current for $`L12`$ exhibits a crossing at $`T/J=0.81\pm 0.02`$, close to the crossing temperature of the Binder ratio. The longitudinal mean-square current also exhibits a crossing behavior, as is shown in Fig.2(b). Apparently, finite-size effects are severer in $`I_L^2`$ than in $`I_T^2`$, as the crossing for smaller sizes occurs at relative high temperature, which shifts down rapidly to lower temperature with increasing $`L`$, i.e., $`T_{\mathrm{cross}}/J>1.1`$ ($`L=8`$ and 12), $`1.00`$ ($`L=12`$ and 16), and $`0.89`$ ($`L=16`$ and 20). Aside from this strong finite-size correction, the observed behavior seems consistent with the occurrence of a single bulk transition at $`T/J0.81`$ as suggested from the transverse mean-square current.

In order to further confirm that both the transverse and longitudinal spatial components order simultaneously, I also compute the transverse VG order parameter and the transverse Binder ratio. These quantities are defined in terms of the layer-overlap $`q_k^{}`$ for the $`k`$-th $`xy`$-layer of the lattice,

$$q_k^{}=\frac{1}{L^2}\underset{ik}{}\psi _i^{(1)}\psi _i^{(2)},$$
(6)
where $`ik`$ means the sum over all sites belonging to the $`k`$-th layer, by

$$q_T^{(2)}=\frac{1}{L}\underset{k}{}[<|q_k^{}|^2>],g_T=2\frac{_k[|q_k^{}|^4]}{_k[|q_k^{}|^2]^2}.$$
(7)
The calculated $`g_T`$ is shown in Fig.1(b). As can be seen from the figure, $`g_T`$ shows a behavior quite similar to $`g`$, exhibiting a clear crossing at $`T/J=0.81\pm 0.02`$. This also indicates that the model exhibits a single bulk VG transition where both the transverse and longitudinal components order simultaneously.

Next, we turn to the critical properties of the model. Standard finite-size scaling analysis performed for the bulk Binder ratio, with setting $`T_g/J=0.82`$, yields $`\nu =1.2\pm 0.3`$, as shown in the inset of Fig.3 where $`t(TT_g)/T_g`$. Then, from the scaling of the order parameter $`q^{(2)}`$, the critical-point-decay exponent is estimated to be $`\eta =0.5\pm 0.1`$: see Fig.3. The estimate of $`\nu `$ is also corroborated by a finite-size scaling analysis of the transverse mean-square current $`I_T^2`$, which, with $`T_g/J=0.81`$, yields $`\nu =1.0\pm 0.2`$. The corresponding finite-size scaling plot is given in Fig.4. (Unfortunately, meaningful scaling analysis is not feasible for $`I_L^2`$ due to the rapid shift of the crossing points with $`L`$.) In order to examine the possibility of anisotropic scaling, finite-size scaling of $`g_T`$ and $`q_T^{(2)}`$ (see the inset of Fig.4) is also performed. I get $`\nu =1.2\pm 0.3`$ and $`\eta =0.5\pm 0.1`$, which agree within the errors with $`\nu `$ and $`\eta `$ determined from $`g`$ and $`q^{(2)}`$. No sign of anisotropic scaling is thus found. Combining all these estimates, I finally quote $`\nu =1.1\pm 0.2`$, $`\eta =0.5\pm 0.1`$.

On comparing the exponent values obtained here with those obtained for the system with free boundary conditions, one sees that they differ considerably. In the range of lattice sizes studied here, the application of either periodic or free boundary significantly influences the estimates of critical exponents. One naturaly expects that periodic boundary conditions give better estimates for the bulk exponents, since no surface ’spin’ exists there which might contaminate the bulk critical properties.

If one compares the present estimates of exponents with those of the the gauge-glass model (with periodic boundary), the values of both $`\nu `$ and $`\eta `$ are compatible with each other, i.e., $`\nu =1.1\pm 0.2`$ and $`\eta =0.5\pm 0.1`$ for the present model vs. $`\nu =1.39\pm 0.20`$ and $`\eta =0.47\pm 0.07`$ for the gauge-glass model. This coincidence might suggest that the present model belongs to the same universality class as the gauge-glass model. It thus appears that the differences in the form of quenched randomness and in the spatial anisotropy due to external fields are irrelevant to the critical properties of the VG transition.

Finally, I wish to refer to the possible effect of screening in real VG ordering. In real type-II superconductors including high-$`T_c`$ superconductors, the penetration depth is large, but of cource is not infinite. As several calculations on the gauge-glass model and other random XY model have constantly suggested, finite screening effect might destabilize the stable VG state. Since high-$`T_c`$ superconductors are strongly type-II superconductors, this screening-induced rounding of a sharp VG transition is a weak effect, visible only at very close to $`T_g`$ of the unscreened system. With use of the present estimate of $`\nu `$, a rough estimate of such a rounding (or crossover) temperature $`T_\times `$ may be obtained. Screening effect would be visible when the coherence length $`\xi \xi _0t^\nu `$ ($`\xi _0`$ is the zero-temperature coherence length and $`t(TT_g)/T_g`$) grows comparable to the zero-temperature penetration depth $`\lambda _0`$. Since the ratio $`\lambda _0/\xi _0`$ is of order $`10^2`$ in high-$`T_c`$ superconductors, the crossover temperature is of order $`t_\times 10^2`$. It means that one has to approach $`T_g`$ as close as $`t10^2`$ in order to see the screening-induced rounding. In other words, in the temperature range outside $`t_\times `$, the critical behavior of the unscreened system is expected to be observed experimentally .

In summary, the VG ordering of strongly type-II superconductors with point disorder is investigated based on a lattice XY model with a uniform field. The occurrence of a finite-temperature VG transition is established in the unscreened limit. The estimated critical exponents $`\nu `$ and $`\eta `$ are close to the corresponding gauge-glass values, suggesting that the present model belong to the same universality class as the gauge-glass model.

The author is thankful to Dr.S. Teitel for useful discussion. He is also indebted to Dr.J. Lidmar for his comment on the estimate of critical exponents. The numerical calculation was performed on the Hitachi SR8000 at the supercomputer center, ISSP, University of Tokyo.

Note added

In the course of preparing this manuscript, the author learned that Olsson also made a MC simulation of the 3D VG order in the unscreened limit based on a lattice XY model, with a diffierent choice of the random-coupling distribution \[cond-mat/0301624\]. Finite-temperature VG transition with an exponent $`\nu =1.50\pm 0.12`$ was observed, roughly being consistent with our present result. Critical exponents similar to our present values were aslo reported very recently by Lidmar based on a different type of VG model \[cond-mat/0302577\].