Layered superconductors. II. Melting of parallel-flux lattice

A system of superconducting layers with Josephson coupling J between neighboring layers is studied in the presence of a magnetic field parallel to the layers. A sequence of ''scrl phases'' is produced where the induced flux lines are scrl layers apart. An scrl phase is solved by an equivalent fermion problem and its melting temperature Tm(scrl) is found. When J is not too small, there is a range scrlmin<scrl<scrlmax for which two-dimensional phases are possible and scrlmin=8-10. These results account for the current-voltage relation of the form V∼Ia(T) as observed in many of the high-Tc superconductors.