165 research outputs found
Flux Creep and Flux Jumping
We consider the flux jump instability of the Bean's critical state arising in
the flux creep regime in type-II superconductors. We find the flux jump field,
, that determines the superconducting state stability criterion. We
calculate the dependence of on the external magnetic field ramp rate,
. We demonstrate that under the conditions typical for most of the
magnetization experiments the slope of the current-voltage curve in the flux
creep regime determines the stability of the Bean's critical state, {\it i.e.},
the value of . We show that a flux jump can be preceded by the
magneto-thermal oscillations and find the frequency of these oscillations as a
function of .Comment: 7 pages, ReVTeX, 2 figures attached as postscript file
Gaia Focused Product Release:Sources from Service Interface Function image analysis. Half a million new sources in omega Centauri
Context. Gaia’s readout window strategy is challenged by very dense fields in the sky. Therefore, in addition to standard Gaia observations, full Sky Mapper (SM) images were recorded for nine selected regions in the sky. A new software pipeline exploits these Service Interface Function (SIF) images of crowded fields (CFs), making use of the availability of the full two-dimensional (2D) information. This new pipeline produced half a million additional Gaia sources in the region of the omega Centauri (ω Cen) cluster, which are published with this Focused Product Release. We discuss the dedicated SIF CF data reduction pipeline, validate its data products, and introduce their Gaia archive table.Aims. Our aim is to improve the completeness of the Gaia source inventory in a very dense region in the sky, ω Cen.Methods. An adapted version of Gaia’s Source Detection and Image Parameter Determination software located sources in the 2D SIF CF images. These source detections were clustered and assigned to new SIF CF or existing Gaia sources by Gaia s cross-match software. For the new sources, astrometry was calculated using the Astrometric Global Iterative Solution software, and photometry was obtained in the Gaia DR3 reference system. We validated the results by comparing them to the public Gaia DR3 catalogue and external Hubble Space Telescope data.Results. With this Focused Product Release, 526 587 new sources have been added to the Gaia catalogue in ω Cen. Apart from positions and brightnesses, the additional catalogue contains parallaxes and proper motions, but no meaningful colour information. While SIF CF source parameters generally have a lower precision than nominal Gaia sources, in the cluster centre they increase the depth of the combined catalogue by three magnitudes and improve the source density by a factor of ten.Conclusions. This first SIF CF data publication already adds great value to the Gaia catalogue. It demonstrates what to expect for the fourth Gaia catalogue, which will contain additional sources for all nine SIF CF regions
Interaction of hot spots and THz waves in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8 intrinsic Josephson junction stacks of various geometry
At high enough input power in stacks of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O8 intrinsic Josephson
junctions a hot spot (a region heated to above the superconducting transition
temperature) coexists with regions still in the superconducting state. In the
``cold'' regions cavity resonances can occur, synchronizing the ac Josephson
currents and giving rise to strong coherent THz emission. We investigate the
interplay of hot spots and standing electromagnetic waves by low temperature
scanning laser microscopy and THz emission measurements, using stacks of
various geometries. For a rectangular and a arrow-shaped structure we show that
the standing wave can be turned on and off in various regions of the stack
structure, depending on the hot spot position. We also report on standing wave
and hot spot formation in a disk shaped mesa structure
Josephson -junctions based on structures with complex normal/ferromagnet bilayer
We demonstrate that Josephson devices with nontrivial phase difference in the ground state can be realized in structures composed
from longitudinally oriented normal metal (N) and ferromagnet (F) films in the
weak link region. Oscillatory coupling across F-layer makes the first harmonic
in the current-phase relation relatively small, while coupling across N-layer
provides negative sign of the second harmonic. To derive quantitative criteria
for a -junction, we have solved two-dimensional boundary-value problem
in the frame of Usadel equations for overlap and ramp geometries of S-NF-S
structures. Our numerical estimates show that -junctions can be
fabricated using up-to-date technology.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
Magnetic Field Effect in Josephson tunneling between d-Wave Superconductors
The magnetic field effect in the Josephson tunneling between two d-wave
superconductors are investigated. When the crystal orientation of one (or each)
superconductor relative to the interface normal is such that midgap states
exist at the interface, there is a component of the tunneling current due to
the midgap states. For a junction with a flat {001}|{110} or {100}|{110}
interface, this component is the predominant contribution to the current. The
predicted current-field dependence differs entirely from the conventional
Fraunhofer pattern, in agreement with a published measurement. This is because,
apart from the Fraunhofer factor, the critical current depends on the magnetic
field B through the current density also which is a linear function of B for
weak B.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Dynamics of 2D pancake vortices in layered superconductors
The dynamics of 2D pancake vortices in Josephson-coupled
superconducting/normal - metal multilayers is considered within the
time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory. For temperatures close to a
viscous drag force acting on a moving 2D vortex is shown to depend strongly on
the conductivity of normal metal layers. For a tilted vortex line consisting of
2D vortices the equation of viscous motion in the presence of a transport
current parallel to the layers is obtained. The specific structure of the
vortex line core leads to a new dynamic behavior and to substantial deviations
from the Bardeen-Stephen theory. The viscosity coefficient is found to depend
essentially on the angle between the magnetic field and the
axis normal to the layers. For field orientations close to the layers
the nonlinear effects in the vortex motion appear even for slowly moving vortex
lines (when the in-plane transport current is much smaller than the
Ginzburg-Landau critical current). In this nonlinear regime the viscosity
coefficient depends logarithmically on the vortex velocity .Comment: 15 pages, revtex, no figure
Mobile kinks and half-integer zero-field-like steps in highly discrete alternating Josephson junction arrays
The dynamics of a one-dimensional, highly discrete, linear array of
alternating and Josephson junctions is studied numerically, under
constant bias current at zero magnetic field. The calculated current - voltage
characteristics exhibit half-integer and integer zero-field-like steps for even
and odd total number of junctions, respectively. Inspection of the
instantaneous phases reveals that, in the former case, single kink
excitations (discrete semi-fluxons) are supported, whose propagation in the
array gives rise to the step, while in the latter case, a pair of
kink -- antikink appears, whose propagation gives rise to the
step. When additional kinks are inserted in the array, they are
subjected to fractionalization, transforming themselves into two closely spaced
kinks. As they propagate in the array along with the single kink or
the kink - antikink pair, they give rise to higher half-integer or
integer zero-field-like steps, respectively.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Supercond. Sci. Techno
Experiments in vortex avalanches
Avalanche dynamics is found in many phenomena spanning from earthquakes to
the evolution of species. It can be also found in vortex matter when a type II
superconductor is externally driven, for example, by increasing the magnetic
field. Vortex avalanches associated with thermal instabilities can be an
undesirable effect for applications, but "dynamically driven" avalanches
emerging from the competition between intervortex interactions and quenched
disorder constitute an interesting scenario to test theoretical ideas related
with non-equilibrium dynamics. However, differently from the equilibrium phases
of vortex matter in type II superconductors, the study of the corresponding
dynamical phases - in which avalanches can play a role - is still in its
infancy. In this paper we critically review relevant experiments performed in
the last decade or so, emphasizing the ability of different experimental
techniques to establish the nature and statistical properties of the observed
avalanche behavior.Comment: To be published in Reviews of Modern Physics April 2004. 17 page
Superconducting Transition and Vortex Pinning in Nb Films Patterned with Nano-scale Hole-arrays
Nb films containing extended arrays of holes with 45-nm diameter and 100-nm
spacing have been fabricated using anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) as substrate.
Pronounced matching effects in the magnetization and Little-Parks oscillations
of the superconducting critical temperature have been observed in fields up to
9 kOe. Flux pinning in the patterned samples is enhanced by two orders of
magnitude as compared to unpatterned reference samples in applied fields
exceeding 5 kOe. Matching effects are a dominant contribution to vortex pinning
at temperatures as low as 4.2 K due to the extremely small spacing of the
holes
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