Dissipation in highly anisotropic superconductors

In layered superconductors with very weak coupling between the layers the concept of a flux-line lattice breaks down when the field is oriented parallel to the superconducting planes. For an arbitrary field orientation we propose that the formation of an Abrikosov lattice is only related to the perpendicular field component. The parallel field component penetrates as if the superconducting planes were completely decoupled. This model explains recent experiments which have questioned the driving mechanism for dissipation in the superconducting phase of the high-temperature oxide superconductors.