Peak effect and anomalous flow behavior of a flux-line lattice

Dynamics of a ‘‘quasi-two-dimensional’’ flux-line lattice in the layered superconductor 2H-${\mathrm{NbSe}}_2$ for field normal to the layers is investigated at high fields. Comparisons with numerical simulations imply the presence of plastic flow for soft lattices. Dimensionality effects are more pronounced in the disorder-dominated regime, where a power-law scaling form for the I-V curve yields the conductivity exponent above the percolation threshold.