Melting of the nanocrystalline vortex matter in highly anisotropic high-temperature superconductors

Multilevel Monte Carlo simulations of the vortex matter in the highly anisotropic high-temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 were performed. We introduced low concentration of columnar defects satisfying Bphi < or = B. Both the electromagnetic and Josephson interactions among pancake vortices were included. The nanocrystalline, nanoliquid, and homogeneous liquid phases were identified in agreement with experiments. We observed the two-step melting process and also noted an enhancement of the structure factor just prior to the melting transition. A proposed theoretical model is in agreement with our findings.