Ferromagnetic resonance with a magnetic Josephson junction

We show experimentally and theoretically that there is a coupling via the Aharonov-Bohm phase between the order parameter of a ferromagnet and a singlet, s-wave, Josephson supercurrent. We have investigated the possibility of measuring the dispersion of such spin waves by varying the magnetic field applied in the plane of the junction and demonstrated the electromagnetic nature of the coupling by the observation of magnetic resonance side-bands to microwave induced Shapiro steps.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Transport properties of clean and disordered Josephson junction arrays

We investigate the influence of quantum fluctuations and weak disorder on the vortex dynamics in a two-dimensional superconducting Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless system. The temperature below which quantum fluctuations dominate the vortex creep is determined, and the transport in this quantum regime is described. The crossover from quantum to classical regime is discussed and the quantum correction to the classical current-voltage relation is determined. It is found that weak disorder can effectively reduce the critical current as compared to that in the clean system.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Carrier drift velocity and edge magnetoplasmons in graphene

We investigate electron dynamics at the graphene edge by studying the propagation of collective edge magnetoplasmon (EMP) excitations. By timing the travel of narrow wave-packets on picosecond time scales around exfoliated samples, we find chiral propagation with low attenuation at a velocity which is quantized on Hall plateaus. We extract the carrier drift contribution from the EMP propagation and find it to be slightly less than the Fermi velocity, as expected for an abrupt edge. We also extract the characteristic length for Coulomb interaction at the edge and find it to be smaller than for soft, depletion edge systems.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures of main text and 6 pages, 6 figures of supplemental materia

Distribution of velocities and acceleration for a particle in Brownian correlated disorder: inertial case

We study the motion of an elastic object driven in a disordered environment in presence of both dissipation and inertia. We consider random forces with the statistics of random walks and reduce the problem to a single degree of freedom. It is the extension of the mean field ABBM model in presence of an inertial mass m. While the ABBM model can be solved exactly, its extension to inertia exhibits complicated history dependence due to oscillations and backward motion. The characteristic scales for avalanche motion are studied from numerics and qualitative arguments. To make analytical progress we consider two variants which coincide with the original model whenever the particle moves only forward. Using a combination of analytical and numerical methods together with simulations, we characterize the distributions of instantaneous acceleration and velocity, and compare them in these three models. We show that for large driving velocity, all three models share the same large-deviation function for positive velocities, which is obtained analytically for small and large m, as well as for m =6/25. The effect of small additional thermal and quantum fluctuations can be treated within an approximate method.Comment: 42 page

Failure Analysis of the Tower Crane Counterjib

Failures of the cranes' structural parts unavoidably lead to serious damages or total collapses; these accidents are often followed by very high financial losses and possibly serious injuries or crane-related fatalities. The objective of this research was to identify the causes that led to the failure of the hammerhead tower crane (x1425C) counteijib. The crane is used for assembly works at the hydropower dam. The counteijib collapse resulted from a gusset plate failure and caused such significant damage of the whole crane structure that the crane was dismantled and removed from operation. The study of the accident includes: (1) Identification of the stress-state, where a FEM model is developed to provide a useful tool for studying stress analysis; (2) Laboratory investigations are conducted in order to define the chemical composition and mechanical properties of the material, the tensile properties, hardness, impact toughness, as well as the metallographic analyses. The analysis of the obtained results showed that the principal reasons behind the gusset plate failure originated from design and fabrication faults. The working stress was higher than the allowable one. Also, impact toughness was too low and the fabrication of welds was incorrect

Phase dynamics of ferromagnetic Josephson junctions

We have investigated the classical phase dynamics of underdamped ferromagnetic Josephson junctions by measuring the switching probability in both the stationary and nonstationary regimes down to 350 mK. We found the escape temperature to be the bath temperature, with no evidence of additional spin noise. In the nonstationary regime, we have performed a pump-probe experiment on the Josephson phase by increasing the frequency of the junction current bias. We show that an incomplete energy relaxation leads to dynamical phase bifurcation. Bifurcation manifests itself as premature switching, resulting in a bimodal switching distribution. We directly measure the phase relaxation time by following the evolution of the bimodal switching distribution when varying the bias frequency. Numerical simulations account for the experimental values of the phase relaxation time.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure