293 research outputs found
Theory of terahertz electric oscillations by supercooled superconductors
We predict that below T_c a regime of negative differential conductivity
(NDC) can be reached. The superconductor should be supercooled to T<T_c in the
normal phase under DC voltage. In such a nonequilibrium situation the NDC of
the superconductor is created by the excess conductivity of the fluctuation
Cooper pairs. We propose NDC of supercooled superconductors to be used as an
active medium for generation of electric oscillations. Such generators can be
used in the superconducting electronics as a new type THz source of radiation.
Oscillations can be modulated by the change of the bias voltage, electrostatic
doping by a gate electrode when the superconductor is the channel of a field
effect transistor, or by light. When small amplitude oscillations are
stabilized near the critical temperature T_c the generator can be used as a
bolometer. The essential for the applications NDC is predicted by the solution
of the Boltzmann kinetic equation for the metastable in the normal phase Cooper
pairs. Boltzmann equation for fluctuation Cooper pairs is a result of
state-of-the-art application of the microscopic theory of superconductivity.
Our theoretical conclusions are based on some approximations like time
dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, but nevertheless can reliably predict
appearance of NDC. The maximal frequency at which superconductors can operate
as generators is determined by the critical temperature \hbar omega_max ~ k_B
T_c. For high-T_c superconductors this maximal frequency falls well inside the
terahertz range. Technical conditions to avoid nucleation of the
superconducting phase are briefly discussed. We suggest that nanostructured
high-T_c superconductors patterned in a single chip can give the best technical
performance of the proposed oscillator.Comment: 7 page
Nonlinear regime of the mode-coupling instability in 2D plasma crystals
The transition between linear and nonlinear regimes of the mode-coupling
instability (MCI) operating in a monolayer plasma crystal is studied. The mode
coupling is triggered at the centre of the crystal and a melting front is
formed, which travels through the crystal. At the nonlinear stage, the mode
coupling results in synchronisation of the particle motion and the kinetic
temperature of the particles grows exponentially. After melting of the
crystalline structure, the mean kinetic energy of the particles continued to
grow further, preventing recrystallisation of the melted phase. The effect
could not be reproduced in simulations employing a simple point-like wake
model. This shows that at the nonlinear stage of the MCI a heating mechanism is
working which was not considered so far.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Forced mode-coupling instability in two-dimensional complex plasmas
It is demonstrated experimentally that the wake-mediated resonant coupling of the in-plane and out-of-plane collective motion in two-dimensional plasma crystals can be induced by applying various types of external forcing. When the forcing is sufficiently strong, it can trigger the mode-coupling instability leading to the melting of the crystalline monolayer. The experimental observations are supported by numerical analysis of the forced collective dynamics of particles with the wake-mediated interactions. The reported results show the universal nature of the wake-mediated mode coupling (also occurring for the " forced " wave modes) and confirm characteristic features of the mode-coupling instability predicted theoretically by Ivlev et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 135002 (2014)]
Nucleation and Growth of the Superconducting Phase in the Presence of a Current
We study the localized stationary solutions of the one-dimensional
time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations in the presence of a current. These
threshold perturbations separate undercritical perturbations which return to
the normal phase from overcritical perturbations which lead to the
superconducting phase. Careful numerical work in the small-current limit shows
that the amplitude of these solutions is exponentially small in the current; we
provide an approximate analysis which captures this behavior. As the current is
increased toward the stall current J*, the width of these solutions diverges
resulting in widely separated normal-superconducting interfaces. We map out
numerically the dependence of J* on u (a parameter characterizing the material)
and use asymptotic analysis to derive the behaviors for large u (J* ~ u^-1/4)
and small u (J -> J_c, the critical deparing current), which agree with the
numerical work in these regimes. For currents other than J* the interface
moves, and in this case we study the interface velocity as a function of u and
J. We find that the velocities are bounded both as J -> 0 and as J -> J_c,
contrary to previous claims.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, Revte
Tilted and crossing vortex chains in layered superconductors
In the presence of the Josephson vortex lattice in layered superconductors, a
small c-axis magnetic field penetrates in the form of vortex chains. In
general, the structure of a single chain is determined by the ratio of the
London [] and Josephson [] lengths, . The chain is composed of tilted vortices at large
's (tilted chain) and at small 's it consists of a crossing
array of Josephson vortices and pancake-vortex stacks (crossing chain). We
study chain structures at intermediate 's and found two types of phase
transitions. For the ground state is given by the crossing
chain in a wide range of pancake separations .
However, due to attractive coupling between deformed pancake stacks, the
equilibrium separation can not exceed some maximum value depending on the
in-plane field and . The first phase transition takes place with
decreasing pancake-stack separation at , and rather
wide range of the ratio , . With
decreasing , the crossing chain goes through intermediate strongly-deformed
configurations and smoothly transforms into a tilted chain via a second-order
phase transition. Another phase transition occurs at very small densities of
pancake vortices, , and only when exceeds a
certain critical value . In this case a small c-axis field penetrates
in the form of kinks. However, at very small concentration of kinks, the kinked
chains are replaced with strongly deformed crossing chains via a first-order
phase transition. This transition is accompanied by a very large jump in the
pancake density.Comment: Proceeding of the NATO ARW "Vortex dynamics in superconductors and
other complex systems", Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine, 13-17 September 2004, To be
published in the Journ. of Low Temp. Phys., 16 pages, 6 figure
Variability approaching the thermal limits can drive diatom community dynamics
Organismal distributions are largely mediated by temperature, suggesting thermal trait variability plays a key role in defining species\u27 niches. We employed a traitâbased approach to better understand how interâ and intraspecific thermal trait variability could explain diatom community dynamics using 24 strains from 5 species in the diatom genusSkeletonema, isolated from Narragansett Bay (NBay), where this genus can comprise up to 99% of the microplankton. Strainâspecific thermal reaction norms were generated using growth rates obtained at temperatures ranging from â2°C to 36°C. Comparison of thermal reaction norms revealed interâ and intraspecific similarities in the thermal optima, but significant differences approaching the thermal limits. Cellular elemental composition was determined for two thermally differentiated species and again, the most variation occurred approaching the thermal limits. To determine the potential impact of interspecific variability on community composition, a species succession model was formulated utilizing each species\u27 empirically determined thermal reaction norm and historical temperature data from NBay. Seasonal succession in the modeled community resembled the timing of species occurrence in the field, but not species\u27 relative abundance. The model correctly predicted the timing of the dominant winterâspring species, Skeletonema marinoi, within 0â14âd of its observed peak occurrence in the field. Interspecific variability approaching the thermal limits provides an alternative mechanism for temporal diatom succession, leads to altered cellular elemental composition, and thus has the potential to influence carbon flux and nutrient cycling, suggesting that growth approaching the thermal limits be incorporated into both empirical and modeling efforts in the future
Crossovers in the thermal decay of metastable states in discrete systems
The thermal decay of linear chains from a metastable state is investigated. A
crossover from rigid to elastic decay occurs when the number of particles, the
single particle energy barrier or the coupling strength between the particles
is varied. In the rigid regime, the single particle energy barrier is small
compared to the coupling strength and the decay occurs via a uniform
saddlepoint solution, with all degrees of freedom decaying instantly.
Increasing the barrier one enters the elastic regime, where the decay is due to
bent saddlepoint configurations using the elasticity of the chain to lower
their activation energy. Close to the rigid-to-elastic crossover, nucleation
occurs at the boundaries of the system. However, in large systems, a second
crossover from boundary to bulk nucleation can be found within the elastic
regime, when the single particle energy barrier is further increased. We
compute the decay rate in the rigid and in the elastic regimes within the
Gaussian approximation. Around the rigid-to-elastic crossover, the calculations
are performed beyond the steepest descent approximation. In this region, the
prefactor exhibits a scaling property. The theoretical results are discussed in
the context of discrete Josephson transmission lines and pancake vortex stacks
that are pinned by columnar defects.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX, 7 PS-figure
Local Inhomogeneity Effects on Nucleation Process in a High External Bias
Quantum nucleation processes in the presence of local moderate
inhomogeneities are studied theoretically at high biases. The quantum
nucleation rate Gamma is calculated for one-dimensional systems in a form Gamma
= A e^(-B/hbar) by using the `bounce' method. The bias-dependence of the
exponent B is shown to be changed by inhomogeneities. This change is explained
by the reduction of the effective spatial dimension of the system. By studying
the system-size dependence of the prefactor A, the condition for the appearance
of inhomogeneity effects is evaluated. Nucleation rates in thermal activation
regimes are also calculated, and compared with quantum tunneling regimes. For
higher-dimensional systems, it is shown that the local approximation of
inhomogeneity does not hold, and that spatial profiles of inhomogeneity become
important.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Metastability in Josephson transmission lines
Thermal activation and macroscopic quantum tunneling in current-biased
discrete Josephson transmission lines are studied theoretically. The degrees of
freedom under consideration are the phases across the junctions which are
coupled to each other via the inductances of the system. The resistively
shunted junctions that we investigate constitute a system of N interacting
degrees of freedom with an overdamped dynamics. We calculate the decay rate
within exponential accuracy as a function of temperature and current. Slightly
below the critical current, the decay from the metastable state occurs via a
unique ("rigid") saddlepoint solution of the Euclidean action describing the
simultaneous decay of the phases in all the junctions. When the current is
reduced, a crossover to a regime takes place, where the decay occurs via an
"elastic" saddlepoint solution and the phases across the junctions leave the
metastable state one after another. This leads to an increased decay rate
compared with the rigid case both in the thermal and the quantum regime. The
rigid-to-elastic crossover can be sharp or smooth analogous to first- or
second- order phase transitions, respectively. The various regimes are
summarized in a current-temperature decay diagram.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX, 3 PS-figures, revised versio
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