Theory of plastic vortex creep

We develop a theory for plastic vortex creep in a topologically disordered (dislocated) vortex solid phase in type-II superconductors in terms of driven thermally activated dislocation dynamics. Plastic barriers for dislocations show a power-law divergence at small driving currents j, U(pl)( j) approximately j(-&mgr;), with &mgr; = 1 for a single dislocation and &mgr; = 2/5 for creep of dislocation bundles. This implies a suppression of the creep rate at the transition from the ordered vortex phase ( &mgr; = 2/11) to the dislocated glass and can manifest itself as an observed increase of the apparent critical current (second peak). Our approach applies to general dynamics of disordered elastic media on a random substrate.