4,127 research outputs found
Quantitative Simulation of the Superconducting Proximity Effect
A numerical method is developed to calculate the transition temperature of
double or multi-layers consisting of films of super- and normal conductors. The
approach is based on a dynamic interpretation of Gorkov's linear gap equation
and is very flexible. The mean free path of the different metals, transmission
through the interface, ratio of specular reflection to diffusive scattering at
the surfaces, and fraction of diffusive scattering at the interface can be
included. Furthermore it is possible to vary the mean free path and the BCS
interaction NV in the vicinity of the interface. The numerical results show
that the normalized initial slope of an SN double layer is independent of
almost all film parameters except the ratio of the density of states. There are
only very few experimental investigations of this initial slope and they
consist of Pb/Nn double layers (Nn stands for a normal metal). Surprisingly the
coefficient of the initial slope in these experiments is of the order or less
than 2 while the (weak coupling) theory predicts a value of about 4.5. This
discrepancy has not been recognized in the past. The autor suggests that it is
due to strong coupling behavior of Pb in the double layers. The strong coupling
gap equation is evaluated in the thin film limit and yields the value of 1.6
for the coefficient. This agrees much better with the few experimental results
that are available.
PACS: 74.45.+r, 74.62.-c, 74.20.F
The influence of spin-dependent phases of tunneling electrons on the conductance of a point ferromagnet/isolator/d-wave superconductor contact
The influence of phase shifts of electron waves passing through and reflected
by the potential barrier on the Andreev reflection in a
ferromagnet/isolator/d-wave superconductor (FIS) contact is studied. It is
found that in a superconductor the surface spin-dependent Andreev bound states
inside the superconducting gap are formed as a result of the interference of
electron-like and hole-like quasiparticles due to repeated Andreev reflections.
The peak in the conductance of the FIS contact at the zero potential for the
(110)-oriented superconductor disappears rapidly as the polarization of a
ferromagnet increases, whereas for the (100)-oriented superconductor it
appears. The physical reason for this behavior of conductance is discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
NN potentials from inverse scattering in the J-matrix approach
An approximate inverse scattering method [7,8] has been used to construct
separable potentials with the Laguerre form factors. As an application, we
invert the phase shifts of proton-proton in the and
channels and neutron-proton in the channel elastic scattering. In
the latter case the deuteron wave function of a realistic potential was
used as input.Comment: LaTex2e, 17 pages, 3 Postscript figures; corrected typo
Severe discrepancies between experiment and theory in the superconducting proximity effect
The superconducting proximity effect is investigated for SN double layers in
a regime where the resulting transition temperature T_{c} does not depend on
the mean free paths of the films and, within limits, not on the transparency of
the interface. This regime includes the thin film limit and the normalized
initial slope S_{sn}= (d_{s}/T_{s})|dT_{c}/dd_{n}|. The experimental results
for T_{c} are compared with a numerical simulation which was recently developed
in our group. The results for the SN double layers can be devided into three
groups: (i) When N = Cu, Ag, Au, Mg a disagreement between experiment and
theory by a factor of the order of three is observed, (ii) When N = Cd, Zn, Al
the disagreement between experiment and theory is reduced to a factor of about
1.5, (iii) When N = In, Sn a reasonably good agreement between experiment and
theory is observed
Phonon-induced dephasing of chromium colour centres in diamond
We report on the coherence properties of single photons from chromium-based
colour centres in diamond. We use field-correlation and spectral lineshape
measurements to reveal the interplay between slow spectral wandering and fast
dephasing mechanisms as a function of temperature. We show that the zero-phonon
transition frequency and its linewidth follow a power-law dependence on
temperature indicating that the dominant fast dephasing mechanisms for these
centres are direct electron-phonon coupling and phonon-modulated Coulomb
coupling to nearby impurities. Further, the observed reduction in the quantum
yield for photon emission as a function of temperature is consistent with the
opening of additional nonradiative channels through thermal activation to
higher energy states predominantly and indicates a near-unity quantum
efficiency at 4 K
Local thermometry technique based on proximity-coupled superconductor/normal-metal/superconductor devices
In mesoscopic superconductor/normal-metal/superconductor (SNS)
heterostructures, it is known that the resistance of the normal metal between
the superconductors has a strong temperature dependence. Based on this
phenomenon, we have developed a new type of thermometer, which dramatically
enhances our ability to measure the local electron temperature Te at low
temperatures. Using this technique, we have been able to measure small
temperature gradients across a micron-size sample, opening up the possibility
of quantitatively measuring the thermal properties of mesoscopic devices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Superradiance from an ultrathin film of three-level V-type atoms: Interplay between splitting, quantum coherence and local-field effects
We carry out a theoretical study of the collective spontaneous emission
(superradiance) from an ultrathin film comprised of three-level atoms with
-configuration of the operating transitions. As the thickness of the system
is small compared to the emission wavelength inside the film, the local-field
correction to the averaged Maxwell field is relevant. We show that the
interplay between the low-frequency quantum coherence within the subspace of
the upper doublet states and the local-field correction may drastically affect
the branching ratio of the operating transitions. This effect may be used for
controlling the emission process by varying the doublet splitting and the
amount of low-frequency coherence.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
Depinning transition of dislocation assemblies: pileup and low-angle grain boundary
We investigate the depinning transition occurring in dislocation assemblies.
In particular, we consider the cases of regularly spaced pileups and low angle
grain boundaries interacting with a disordered stress landscape provided by
solute atoms, or by other immobile dislocations present in non-active slip
systems. Using linear elasticity, we compute the stress originated by small
deformations of these assemblies and the corresponding energy cost in two and
three dimensions. Contrary to the case of isolated dislocation lines, which are
usually approximated as elastic strings with an effective line tension, the
deformations of a dislocation assembly cannot be described by local elastic
interactions with a constant tension or stiffness. A nonlocal elastic kernel
results as a consequence of long range interactions between dislocations. In
light of this result, we revise statistical depinning theories and find novel
results for Zener pinning in grain growth. Finally, we discuss the scaling
properties of the dynamics of dislocation assemblies and compare theoretical
results with numerical simulations.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
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