254 research outputs found
Coulomb blockade in superconducting quantum point contacts
Amplitude of the Coulomb blockade oscillations is calculated for a
single-mode Josephson junction with arbitrary electron transparency . It is
shown that the Coulomb blockade is suppressed in ballistic junctions with . The suppression is described quantitatively as the Landau-Zener transition
in imaginary time.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures include
Single-electron transistor effect in a two-terminal structure
A peculiarity of the single-electron transistor effect makes it possible to
observe this effect even in structures lacking a gate electrode altogether. The
proposed method can be useful for experimental study of charging effects in
structures with an extremely small central island confined between tunnel
barriers like a nanometer-sized quantum dot or a macromolecule probed with a
tunneling microscope), where it is impossible to provide a gate electrode for
control of the tunnel current.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Macroscopic resonant tunneling of magnetic flux
We have developed a quantitative theory of resonant tunneling of magnetic
flux between discrete macroscopically distinct quantum states in SQUID systems.
The theory is based on the standard density-matrix approach. Its new elements
include the discussion of the two different relaxation mechanisms that exist
for the double-well potential, and description of the ``photon-assisted''
tunneling driven by external rf radiation. It is shown that in the case of
coherent flux dynamics, rf radiation should lead to splitting of the peaks of
resonant flux tunneling, indicating that the resonant tunneling is a convenient
tool for studying macroscopic quantum coherence of flux.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Quantum nano-electromechanics with electrons, quasiparticles and Cooper pairs: effective bath descriptions and strong feedback effects
Using a quantum noise approach, we discuss the physics of both normal metal
and superconducting single electron transistors (SET) coupled to mechanical
resonators. Particular attention is paid to the regime where transport occurs
via incoherent Cooper-pair tunneling (either via the Josephson quasiparticle
(JQP) or double Josephson quasiparticle (DJQP) process). We show that,
surprisingly, the back-action of tunneling Cooper pairs (or superconducting
quasiparticles) can be used to significantly cool the oscillator. We also
discuss the physical origin of negative damping effects in this system, and how
they can lead to a regime of strong electro-mechanical feedback, where despite
a weak SET - oscillator coupling, the motion of the oscillator strongly effects
the tunneling of the Cooper pairs. We show that in this regime, the oscillator
is characterized by an energy-dependent effective temperature. Finally, we
discuss the strong analogy between back-action effects of incoherent
Cooper-pair tunneling and ponderomotive effects in an optical cavity with a
moveable mirror; in our case, tunneling Cooper pairs play the role of the
cavity photons.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures; submitted to the New Journal of Physics focus
issue on Nano-electromechanical Systems; error in references correcte
Adiabatic Dynamics of Superconducting Quantum Point Contacts
Starting from the quasiclassical equations for non-equilibrium Green's
functions we derive a simple kinetic equation that governs ac Josephson effect
in a superconducting quantum point contact at small bias voltages. In contrast
to existing approaches the kinetic equation is valid for voltages with
arbitrary time dependence. We use this equation to calculate
frequency-dependent linear conductance, and dc characteristics with
and without microwave radiation for resistively shunted quantum point contacts.
A novel feature of the characteristics is the excess current
appearing at small voltages. An important by-product of our
derivation is the analytical proof that the microscopic expression for the
current coincides at arbitrary voltages with the expression that follows from
the Bogolyubov-de Gennes equations, if one uses appropriate amplitudes of
Andreev reflection which contain information about microscopic structure of the
superconductors.Comment: 12 Pages, REVTEX 3.0, 3 figures available upon reques
Josephson charge-phase qubit with radio frequency readout: coupling and decoherence
The charge-phase Josephson qubit based on a superconducting single charge
transistor inserted in a low-inductance superconducting loop is considered. The
loop is inductively coupled to a radio-frequency driven tank circuit enabling
the readout of the qubit states by measuring the effective Josephson inductance
of the transistor. The effect of qubit dephasing and relaxation due to electric
and magnetic control lines as well as the measuring system is evaluated.
Recommendations for operation of the qubit in magic points producing minimum
decoherence are given.Comment: 11 pages incl. 6 fig
Discrete transverse superconducting modes in nano-cylinders
Spatial variation in the superconducting order parameter becomes significant
when the system is confined at dimensions well below the typical
superconducting coherence length. Motivated by recent experimental success in
growing single-crystal metallic nanorods, we study quantum confinement effects
on superconductivity in a cylindrical nanowire in the clean limit. For large
diameters, where the transverse level spacing is smaller than superconducting
order parameter, the usual approximations of Ginzburg-Landau theory are
recovered. However, under external magnetic field the order parameter develops
a spatial variation much stronger than that predicted by Ginzburg-Landau
theory, and gapless superconductivity is obtained above a certain field
strength. At small diameters, the discrete nature of the transverse modes
produces significant spatial variations in the order parameter with increased
average magnitude and multiple shoulders in the magnetic response.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Assisted hopping and interaction effects in impurity models
We study, using Numerical Renormalization Group methods, the generalization
of the Anderson impurity model where the hopping depends on the filling of the
impurity. We show that the model, for sufficiently large values of the assisted
hopping term, shows a regime where local pairing correlations are enhanced.
These correlations involve pairs fluctuating between on site and nearest
neighbor positions
Observation of shot-noise-induced asymmetry in the Coulomb blockaded Josephson junction
We have investigated the influence of shot noise on the IV-curves of a single
mesoscopic Josephson junction. We observe a linear enhancement of zero-bias
conductance of the Josephson junction with increasing shot noise power.
Moreover, the IV-curves become increasingly asymmetric. Our analysis on the
asymmetry shows that the Coulomb blockade of Cooper pairs is strongly
influenced by the non-Gaussian character of the shot noise.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, RevTE
Coulomb Blockade with Dispersive Interfaces
What quantity controls the Coulomb blockade oscillations if the dot--lead
conductance is essentially frequency--dependent ? We argue that it is the ac
dissipative conductance at the frequency given by the effective charging
energy. The latter may be very different from the bare charging energy due to
the interface--induced capacitance (or inductance). These observations are
supported by a number of examples, considered from the weak and strong coupling
(perturbation theory vs. instanton calculus) perspectives.Comment: 4 page
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