Size-Induced Depression of First-Order Transition Lines and Entropy Jump in Extremely Layered Nanocrystalline Vortex Matter

We detect the persistence of the solidification and order-disorder first-order transition lines in the phase diagram of nanocrystalline Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈ vortex matter down to a system size of less than one hundred vortices. The temperature location of the vortex solidification transition line is not altered by decreasing the sample size although there is a depletion of the entropy jump at the transition with respect to macroscopic vortex matter. The solid order-disorder phase transition field moves upward on decreasing the system size due to the increase of the surface-to-volume ratio of vortices entailing a decrease on the average vortex binding energy.