The vortex patterns stabilized by a square array of artificial pinning sites with a tunable pinning strength are studied by using a phenomenological approach in the London limit. The transitions between pinned and deformed triangular lattices are analyzed as a function of the amplitude of the vortex-pinning site interaction and the characteristic length scale of this interaction. The critical current and different phases of the vortex lattice are studied in the presence of external transport current.

• Received 8 August 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.67.014532