Vortex-Antivortex Annihilation and Flux Turbulence in Layered Type-II Superconductors

Abstract

New mechanism of turbulence instability of standing flux-antiflux front in layered superconductors is presented. We describe two assisting mechanisms destabilizing the standing vortex-antivortex front. There are anisotropy of the layered superconductors and the heat, released by the vortex-antivortex annihilation. We present the conditions of the front stability for various anisotropy and heating parameters. We predict that heat released by the vortex-antivortex annihilations enhances the turbulence instability in superconductors with small anisotropy. The characteristic size of the unstable pattern is estimated. The results are in a good agreement with recent experiments.