Importance of dislocations in vortex creep revealed in YNi2B2C by observations in real time and space by STM

Abstract We have observed the vortex creep in high magnetic field up to 4 T at low temperature of 0.45 K in a type II superconductor YNi 2 B 2 C by scanning tunneling microscopy. The measurement time for one STM image was about 15 s. The fast STM measurements enable the observation of vortex motions in real time and space. Vortex lattices in high magnetic field have been found to be divided into vortex bundles separated by the glide planes of edge dislocations. The elementary motion of the vortex creep is the relative slide between vortex bundles mediated with the glides of dislocations.