Inverse melting of the vortex lattice in a superconducting thin film

When temperature is increased solids melt into a liquid at a characteristic temperature. There are however rare situations where an increase in temperature can induce a transformation from a liquid to a solid. This phenomenon, called inverse melting, is only observed in a handful of systems. Here analyzing real space images of the vortex state using a scanning tunneling microscope, I will show the observation inverse melting of the vortex lattice in a 20 nm thick Re6Zr thin film where the vortices transform from an inhomogeneous liquid to a solid and then back to a liquid when temperature or magnetic field increased. These transformations leave distinct signatures on the magneto-transport properties of the superconductor.

References:

R. Duhan, et al., Nat Commun 16, 2100 (2025).