Supercooling of the high field vortex phase in single crystalline BSCCO

Abstract Time resolved magneto-optical images show hysteresis associated with the transition at the so-called “second magnetization peak” at B sp in single-crystalline Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ . By rapid quenching of the high-field phase, it can be made to persist metastably in the sample down to fields that are nearly half B sp .