Peak effect and surface crystal-glass transition for surface-pinned vortex array

We present a theoretical and experimental study of the peak effect in the surface pinning of vortices. It is associated with a sharp transition in the vortex slippage length which we relate to a crossover from a weakly disordered crystal to a surface glass state. Experiments are performed on ion-beam–etched Nb crystals. The slippage length is deduced from 1 kHz–1 MHz linear AC penetration depth measurements.