Two-sided flux decoration experiments indicate that threading dislocation lines (TDL’s), which cross the entire film, are sometimes trapped in metastable states. We calculate the elastic energy associated with the meanderings of a TDL. The TDL behaves as an anisotropic and dispersive string with thermal fluctuations largely along its Burger’s vector. These fluctuations also modify the structure factor of the vortex solid. Both effects can, in principle, be used to estimate the elastic moduli of the material.

• Received 13 June 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.56.11903