79 research outputs found
Investigating The Vortex Melting Phenomenon In BSCCO Crystals Using Magneto-Optical Imaging Technique
Using a novel differential magneto-optical imaging technique we investigate
the phenomenon of vortex lattice melting in crystals of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8
(BSCCO). The images of melting reveal complex patterns in the formation and
evolution of the vortex solid-liquid interface with varying field (H) or
temperature (T). We believe that the complex melting patterns are due to a
random distribution of material disorder or inhomogeneities across the sample,
which create fluctuations in the local melting temperature or field value. To
study the fluctuations in the local melting temperature / field, we have
constructed maps of the melting landscape T_m(H,r), viz., the melting
temperature (T_m) at a given location (r) in the sample at a given field (H). A
study of these melting landscapes reveals an unexpected feature: the melting
landscape is not fixed, but changes rather dramatically with varying field and
temperature along the melting line. It is concluded that the changes in both
the scale and shape of the landscape result from the competing contributions of
different types of quenched disorder which have opposite effects on the local
melting transition.Comment: Paper presented at the International Symposium on Advances in
Superconductivity & Magnetism: Materials, Mechanisms & Devices September
25-28, 2001, Mangalore, India. Symposium proceedings will be published in a
special issue of Pramana - Journal of Physic
Temperature variations of the disorder-induced vortex-lattice melting landscape
Differential magneto-optical imaging of the vortex-lattice melting process in
Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8 crystals reveals unexpected effects of quenched disorder on
the broadening of the first-order phase transition. The melting patterns show
that the disorder-induced melting landscape T_m(H,r) is not fixed, but rather
changes dramatically with varying field and temperature along the melting line.
The changes in both the scale and shape of the landscape are found to result
from the competing contributions of different types of quenched disorder which
have opposite effects on the local melting transition.Comment: 4 pages of text and 3 figures. Accepted for Publication in Physical
Review Letter
Growth and characteristics of type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice-based detectors
We report on growth and device performance of infrared photodetectors based on type II InAs/Ga(In)Sb strain layer
superlattices (SLs) using the complementary barrier infrared detector (CBIRD) design. The unipolar barriers on either side of the absorber in the CBIRD design in combination with the type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice material system are expected to outperform traditional III-V LWIR imaging technologies and offer significant advantages over the conventional II-VI material based FPAs. The innovative design of CBIRDS, low defect density material growth, and robust fabrication processes have resulted in the development of high performance long wave infrared (LWIR) focal plane arrays at JPL
Studies on Magnetic-field induced first-order transitions
We shall discuss magnetization and transport measurements in materials
exhibiting a broad first-order transition. The phase transitions would be
caused by varying magnetic field as well as by varying temperature, and we
concentrate on ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transitions in magnetic
materials. We distinguish between metastable supercooled phases and metastable
glassy phase.Comment: 50th Golden Jubilee Solid State Physics Symposium during Dec.5-9
(2005) in Mumbai - manuscript of Invited tal
Possible superconductivity above 25 K in single crystalline Co-doped BaFeAs
We present superconducting properties of single crystalline
Ba(FeCo)As by measuring magnetization, resistivity,
upper critical field, Hall coefficient, and magneto-optical images. The
magnetization measurements reveal fish-tail hysteresis loop at high
temperatures and relatively high critical current density above
A/cm at low temperatures. Upper critical field determined by resistive
transition is anisotropic with anisotropic parameter 3.5. Hall effect
measurements indicate that Ba(FeCo)As is a
multiband system and the mobility of electron is dominant. The magneto-optical
imaging reveals prominent Bean-like penetration of vortices although there is a
slight inhomogeneity in a sample. Moreover, we find a distinct
superconductivity above 25 K, which leads us to speculate that higher
transition temperature can be realized by fine tuning Co-doping level.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Vortex Solid-Liquid Transition in BiSrCaCuO with a High Density of Strong Pins
The introduction of a large density of columnar defects in %underdoped
BiSrCaCuO crystals does not, at sufficiently low
vortex densities, increase the irreversibility line beyond the first order
transition (FOT) field of pristine crystals. At such low fields, the flux line
wandering length behaves as in pristine
%BiSrCaCuO crystals. Next, vortex positional
correlations along the --axis in the vortex Bose glass at fields above the
FOT are smaller than in the low--field vortex solid. Third, the
Bose-glass-to-vortex liquid transition is signaled by a rapid decrease in
c-axis phase correlations. These observations are understood in terms of the
``discrete superconductor'' model.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures Submitted to Phys. Rev. B Rapid Comm. 16-1-2004
Revised version 18-3-200
High-Speed Operation of Interband Cascade Lasers
Optical sources operating in the atmospheric window of 3-5 microns are of particular interest for the development of free-space optical communication link. It is more advantageous to operate the free-space optical communication link in 3-5-microns atmospheric transmission window than at the telecom wavelength of 1.5 m due to lower optical scattering, scintillation, and background radiation. However, the realization of optical communications at the longer wavelength has encountered significant difficulties due to lack of adequate optical sources and detectors operating in the desirable wavelength regions. Interband Cascade (IC) lasers are novel semiconductor lasers that have a great potential for the realization of high-power, room-temperature optical sources in the 3-5-microns wavelength region, yet no experimental work, until this one, was done on high-speed direct modulation of IC lasers. Here, highspeed interband cascade laser, operating at wavelength 3.0 m, has been developed and the first direct measurement of the laser modulation bandwidth has been performed using a unique, highspeed quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP). The developed laser has modulation bandwidth exceeding 3 GHz. This constitutes a significant increase of the IC laser modulation bandwidth over currently existing devices. This result has demonstrated suitability of IC lasers as a mid-IR light source for multi-GHz free-space optical communications link
Unified order-disorder vortex phase transition in high-Tc superconductors
The diversity of vortex melting and solid-solid transition lines measured in
different high-T superconductors is explained, postulating a unified
order-disorder phase transition driven by both thermally- and disorder-induced
fluctuations. The temperature dependence of the transition line and the nature
of the disordered phase (solid, liquid, or pinned liquid) are determined by the
relative contributions of these fluctuations and by the pinning mechanism. By
varying the pinning mechanism and the pinning strength one obtains a spectrum
of monotonic and non-monotonic transition lines similar to those measured in
BiSrCaCuO, YBaCuO,
NdCeCuO,
BiPbSrCaCuO and (LaSr)CuOComment: To be published in Phys. Rev. B Rapid Com
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