Angular dependent study of the peak effect phenomenon in a weakly pinned single crystal of LuNi₂B₂C

Abstract

The ac-susceptibility data in a crystal of LuNi₂B₂C reveal only a peak effect anomaly for the fields applied in the basal plane. However, multiple anomalous variations in critical current density are observed during rotation of the field from [1 1 0]/[1 0 0] to [0 0 1]. Coupling in the symmetry of the vortex lattice with that of the crystalline lattice can result in an effective pinning being different in different directions. This in turn yields a large variation in the values of the onset field of spatial order-disorder transition, for different orientations of the field.