Direct Demonstration of the Anisotropic Origin of the Macroturbulent Instability in Type-II Superconductors

The physical nature of the macroturbulence in the vortex matter in YBCO superconductors is verified by means of magnetooptic study of the instability in a single crystal prepared specially for this purpose. The instability develops near those sample edges where the oppositely directed flow of vortices and antivortices, guided by twin boundaries, is characterized by the discontinuity of the tangential component of the hydrodynamic velocity. This fact directly indicates that the macroturbulence is analogous to the instability of fluid flow at a surface of a tangential velocity discontinuity in classical hydrodynamics, and is related to the anisotropic flux motion in the superconductor.