Flux-flow resistance in the cuprate superconductors: effect of the nonequilibrium quasiparticle distribution

In the low temperature limit T much less than T-c in the cuprate superconductors the quasiparticle scattering associated with the flux-flow resistance can become sensitively dependent on the electric field. This dependence results from the shift of the quasiparticle energy distribution away from equilibrium, in combination with the energy dependence of the density of states near the Fermi energy providing the phase space available for scattering. These concepts are used for explaining the recently observed highly nonlinear flux-flow-resistance behavior in the cuprate superconductor Nd2-xCexCuOy. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.