Effect of the intrinsic Josephson coupling on the pancake lattice in layered superconductors

We study the pancake lattice system induced by the application of transverse magnetic field to the layered superconductor. A simple statistical field theory for the pancake lattice is derived. It incorporates effects of the magnetic interaction between pancakes as well as those of the interlayer Josephson coupling. The proposed description enables us to estimate the pancake crystal melting temperature from above. Also, it allows us to compare directly the effects of the magnetic and Josephson energies on the statistical properties of the pancake lattice. We demonstrate that even for such an anisotropic material as BSCCO the pancake interaction induced by the Josephson coupling is of the same order as the magnetic interaction.