Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition in Proximity-Coupled Superconducting Arrays

Abstract

Evidence for the Kosterlitz-Thouless vortex unbinding transition is reported in triangular planar arrays of proximity-coupled Pb-Sn junctions. The temperature dependence of the resistive transition and the nonlinear features of the current-voltage characteristics are consistent with recent theories of topological ordering in two-dimensional superconductors.