Magnetization and Critical Current of a Weakly Anisotropic HTSC with Columnar Pinning Centers

The effect of columnar pinning centers on the current–voltage characteristic, the critical current, and the shape of the magnetization curve has been studied by the Monte Carlo method within a three-dimensional model of a layered high-temperature superconductor. It has been shown that the presence of a weak intrinsic pinning does not qualitatively change the calculation results. It has been shown that a periodic lattice of pinning centers leads to an avalanche-like penetration of vortices at a certain threshold field and the existence of vortex-free regions at a lower field. This difference has been demonstrated on the magnetization curves. These effects have not been observed for a quasi-periodic lattice of pinning centers.