208 research outputs found
Spectral Features of the Proximity Effect
We calculate the local density of states (LDOS) of a superconductor-normal
metal sandwich at arbitrary impurity concentration. The presence of the
superconductor induces a gap in the normal metal spectrum that is proportional
to the inverse of the elastic mean free path for rather clean systems. For
a mean free path much shorter than the thickness of the normal metal, we find a
gap size proportional to that approaches the behavior predicted by the
Usadel equation (diffusive limit).Comment: LT22 proceeding
Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence Mapping of a Carbon Laser Produced Plasma
We present measurements of ion velocity distribution profiles obtained by
laser induced fluorescence (LIF) on an explosive laser produced plasma (LPP).
The spatio-temporal evolution of the resulting carbon ion velocity distribution
was mapped by scanning through the Doppler-shifted absorption wavelengths using
a tunable, diode-pumped laser. The acquisition of this data was facilitated by
the high repetition rate capability of the ablation laser (1 Hz) which allowed
the accumulation of thousand of laser shots in short experimental times. By
varying the intensity of the LIF beam, we were able to explore the effects of
fluorescence power against laser irradiance in the context of evaluating the
saturation versus the non-saturation regime. The small beam size of the LIF
beam led to high spatial resolution of the measurement compared to other ion
velocity distribution measurement techniques, while the fast-gated operation
mode of the camera detector enabled the measurement of the relevant electron
transitions
Stub model for dephasing in a quantum dot
As an alternative to Buttiker's dephasing lead model, we examine a dephasing
stub. Both models are phenomenological ways to introduce decoherence in chaotic
scattering by a quantum dot. The difference is that the dephasing lead opens up
the quantum dot by connecting it to an electron reservoir, while the dephasing
stub is closed at one end. Voltage fluctuations in the stub take over the
dephasing role from the reservoir. Because the quantum dot with dephasing lead
is an open system, only expectation values of the current can be forced to
vanish at low frequencies, while the outcome of an individual measurement is
not so constrained. The quantum dot with dephasing stub, in contrast, remains a
closed system with a vanishing low-frequency current at each and every
measurement. This difference is a crucial one in the context of quantum
algorithms, which are based on the outcome of individual measurements rather
than on expectation values. We demonstrate that the dephasing stub model has a
parameter range in which the voltage fluctuations are sufficiently strong to
suppress quantum interference effects, while still being sufficiently weak that
classical current fluctuations can be neglected relative to the nonequilibrium
shot noise.Comment: 8 pages with 1 figure; contribution for the special issue of J.Phys.A
on "Trends in Quantum Chaotic Scattering
The excitation spectrum of mesoscopic proximity structures
We investigate one aspect of the proximity effect, viz., the local density of
states of a superconductor-normal metal sandwich. In contrast to earlier work,
we allow for the presence of an arbitrary concentration of impurities in the
structure. The superconductor induces a gap in the normal metal spectrum that
is proportional to the inverse of the elastic mean free path l_N for rather
clean systems. For a mean free path much shorter than the thickness of the
normal metal, we find a gap size proportional to l_N that approaches the
behavior predicted by the Usadel equation (diffusive limit). We also discuss
the influence of interface and surface roughness, the consequences of a
non-ideal transmittivity of the interface, and the dependence of our results on
the choice of the model of impurity scattering.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures (included), submitted to PR
Electronic Origin of the Inhomogeneous Pairing Interaction in the High-Tc Superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d
Identifying the mechanism of superconductivity in the high-temperature
cuprate superconductors is one of the major outstanding problems in physics. We
report local measurements of the onset of superconducting pairing in the
high-transition temperature (Tc) superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d using a
lattice-tracking spectroscopy technique with a scanning tunneling microscope.
We can determine the temperature dependence of the pairing energy gaps, the
electronic excitations in the absence of pairing, and the effect of the local
coupling of electrons to bosonic excitations. Our measurements reveal that the
strength of pairing is determined by the unusual electronic excitations of the
normal state, suggesting that strong electron-electron interactions rather than
low-energy (<0.1 volts) electron-boson interactions are responsible for
superconductivity in the cuprates
ThermoElectric Transport Properties of a Chain of Quantum Dots with Self-Consistent Reservoirs
We introduce a model for charge and heat transport based on the
Landauer-Buttiker scattering approach. The system consists of a chain of
quantum dots, each of them being coupled to a particle reservoir. Additionally,
the left and right ends of the chain are coupled to two particle reservoirs.
All these reservoirs are independent and can be described by any of the
standard physical distributions: Maxwell-Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac and
Bose-Einstein. In the linear response regime, and under some assumptions, we
first describe the general transport properties of the system. Then we impose
the self-consistency condition, i.e. we fix the boundary values (T_L,\mu_L) and
(T_R,mu_R), and adjust the parameters (T_i,mu_i), for i = 1,...,N, so that the
net average electric and heat currents into all the intermediate reservoirs
vanish. This condition leads to expressions for the temperature and chemical
potential profiles along the system, which turn out to be independent of the
distribution describing the reservoirs. We also determine the average electric
and heat currents flowing through the system and present some numerical
results, using random matrix theory, showing that these currents are typically
governed by Ohm and Fourier laws.Comment: Minor changes (45 pages
Full Counting Statistics of Multiple Andreev Reflections in incoherent diffusive superconducting junctions
We present a theory for the full distribution of current fluctuations in
incoherent diffusive superconducting junctions, subjected to a voltage bias.
This theory of full counting statistics of incoherent multiple Andreev
reflections is valid for arbitrary applied voltage. We present a detailed
discussion of the properties of the first four cumulants as well as the low and
high voltage regimes of the full counting statistics. The work is an extension
of the results of Pilgram and the author, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 086806 (2005).Comment: Included in special issue Spin Physics of Superconducting
heterostructures of Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processin
Non equilibrium current fluctuations in stochastic lattice gases
We study current fluctuations in lattice gases in the macroscopic limit
extending the dynamic approach for density fluctuations developed in previous
articles. More precisely, we establish a large deviation principle for a
space-time fluctuation of the empirical current with a rate functional \mc
I (j). We then estimate the probability of a fluctuation of the average
current over a large time interval; this probability can be obtained by solving
a variational problem for the functional \mc I . We discuss several possible
scenarios, interpreted as dynamical phase transitions, for this variational
problem. They actually occur in specific models. We finally discuss the time
reversal properties of \mc I and derive a fluctuation relationship akin to
the Gallavotti-Cohen theorem for the entropy production.Comment: 36 Pages, No figur
- …