1,262 research outputs found
Normal metal - superconductor tunnel junction as a Brownian refrigerator
Thermal noise generated by a hot resistor (resistance ) can, under proper
conditions, catalyze heat removal from a cold normal metal (N) in contact with
a superconductor (S) via a tunnel barrier. Such a NIS junction acts as
Maxwell's demon, rectifying the heat flow. Upon reversal of the temperature
gradient between the resistor and the junction the heat fluxes are reversed:
this presents a regime which is not accessible in an ordinary voltage-biased
NIS structure. We obtain analytical results for the cooling performance in an
idealized high impedance environment, and perform numerical calculations for
general . We conclude by assessing the experimental feasibility of the
proposed effect
Experimental Test of the Dynamical Coulomb Blockade Theory for Short Coherent Conductors
We observed the recently predicted quantum suppression of dynamical Coulomb
blockade on short coherent conductors by measuring the conductance of a quantum
point contact embedded in a tunable on-chip circuit. Taking advantage of the
circuit modularity we measured most parameters used by the theory. This allowed
us to perform a reliable and quantitative experimental test of the theory.
Dynamical Coulomb blockade corrections, probed up to the second conductance
plateau of the quantum point contact, are found to be accurately normalized by
the same Fano factor as quantum shot noise, in excellent agreement with the
theoretical predictions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Coulomb charging energy for arbitrary tunneling strength
The Coulomb energy of a small metallic island coupled to an electrode by a
tunnel junction is investigated. We employ Monte Carlo simulations to determine
the effective charging energy for arbitrary tunneling strength. For small
tunneling conductance, the data agree with analytical results based on a
perturbative treatment of electron tunneling, while for very strong tunneling
recent semiclassical results for large conductance are approached. The data
allow for an identification of the range of validity of various analytical
predictions.Comment: 4 pages REVTeX, incl 3 figures, to appear in Europhys.Let
Decoherence by electromagnetic fluctuations in double-quantum-dot charge qubits
We discuss decoherence due to electromagnetic fluctuations in charge qubits
formed by two lateral quantum dots. We use an effective circuit model to
evaluate correlations of voltage fluctuations in the qubit setup. These
correlations allows us to estimate energy (T1) and phase (T2) relaxation times
of the the qubit system. Our theoretical estimate of the quality factor due to
dephasing by electromagnetic fluctuations yields values much higher than those
found in recent experiments, indicating that other sources of decoherence play
a dominant role.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
AC Josephson effect and resonant Cooper pair tunneling emission of a Cooper Pair Transistor
We measure the high-frequency emission of a single Cooper pair
transistor(SCPT) in the regime where transport is only due to tunneling of
Cooper pairs. This is achieved by coupling on-chip the SCPT to a
superconductor-insulator-superconductor junction and by measuring the photon
assisted tunneling current of quasiparticles across the junction. This
technique allows a direct detection of the AC Josephson effect of the SCPT and
provides evidence of Landau-Zener transitions for proper gate voltage. The
emission in the regime of resonant Cooper pair tunneling is also investigated.
It is interpreted in terms of transitions between charge states coupled by the
Josephson effect.Comment: Revtex4, 5 pages, 4 figures, final versio
Sum rule for transport in a Luttinger liquid with long range interaction in the presence of an impurity
We show that the non-linear dc transport in a Luttinger liquid with
interaction of finite range in the presence of an impurity is governed by a sum
rule which causes the charging energy to vanish.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, 1 figure, to be published in Europhysics Letter
Experimental study of fire containment using water mist curtains in a reduced-scale deck of a ro-ro ship
Experiments have been conducted to evaluate the containment of smoke and heat using water mist curtains in a model setup of a ro-ro ship's cargo deck with a scale of 1:13, providing practical insights into the application of such fire protection systems in the cargo deck as well as valuable data for future numerical simulations. In this regard, the requirements of the international convention of Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) are studied for the side openings of so-called ‘open decks’ in comparison with ‘closed decks’, especially to examine the feasibility of using water mist curtains for creating isolated subdivisions in the ro-ro space as a fire management strategy. The water mist curtains are created with one or two rows of water mist nozzles at pressures ranging from 3 to 8 bar, while the source of smoke and heat is a liquid pool fire, and inert cargo items are used in some experiments. Correspondingly, the interaction between the water mist curtain(s) and the fire is evaluated in terms of its heat release rate, and the containment effect is quantified via measurements of smoke flow through the deck and through the windows, concentrations of gaseous species, as well as gas temperatures at various key locations. The study shows that water mist curtains have a strong effect on fire dynamics and smoke propagation, but containment is dependent on the configuration of side openings and the location of fire, among other important factors
Solving spin quantum-master equations with matrix continued-fraction methods: application to superparamagnets
We implement continued-fraction techniques to solve exactly quantum master
equations for a spin with arbitrary S coupled to a (bosonic) thermal bath. The
full spin density matrix is obtained, so that along with relaxation and
thermoactivation, coherent dynamics is included (precession, tunnel, etc.). The
method is applied to study isotropic spins and spins in a bistable anisotropy
potential (superparamagnets). We present examples of static response, the
dynamical susceptibility including the contribution of the different relaxation
modes, and of spin resonance in transverse fields.Comment: Resubmitted to J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. Some rewriting here and there.
Discussion on positivity in App.D3 at request of one refere
Structural and magnetic dynamics of a laser induced phase transition in FeRh
We use time-resolved x-ray diffraction and magnetic optical Kerr effect to
study the laser induced antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic phase transition in
FeRh. The structural response is given by the nucleation of independent
ferromagnetic domains (\tau_1 ~ 30ps). This is significantly faster than the
magnetic response (\tau_2 ~ 60ps) given by the subsequent domain realignment.
X-ray diffraction shows that the two phases co-exist on short time-scales and
that the phase transition is limited by the speed of sound. A nucleation model
describing both the structural and magnetic dynamics is presented.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures - changed to reflect version accepted for PR
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