8 research outputs found
Anomalous Hopping Exponents of Ultrathin Films of Metals
The temperature dependence of the resistance R(T) of ultrathin
quench-condensed films of Ag, Bi, Pb and Pd has been investigated. In the most
resistive films, R(T)=Roexp(To/T)^x, where x=0.75. Surprisingly, the exponent x
was found to be constant for a wide range of Ro and To in all four materials,
possibly implying a consistent underlying conduction mechanism. The results are
discussed in terms of several different models of hopping conduction.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Short-Range Interactions and Scaling Near Integer Quantum Hall Transitions
We study the influence of short-range electron-electron interactions on
scaling behavior near the integer quantum Hall plateau transitions. Short-range
interactions are known to be irrelevant at the renormalization group fixed
point which represents the transition in the non-interacting system. We find,
nevertheless, that transport properties change discontinuously when
interactions are introduced. Most importantly, in the thermodynamic limit the
conductivity at finite temperature is zero without interactions, but non-zero
in the presence of arbitrarily weak interactions. In addition, scaling as a
function of frequency, , and temperature, , is determined by the
scaling variable (where is the exponent for the temperature
dependence of the inelastic scattering rate) and not by , as it would
be at a conventional quantum phase transition described by an interacting fixed
point. We express the inelastic exponent, , and the thermal exponent, ,
in terms of the scaling dimension, , of the interaction strength
and the dynamical exponent (which has the value ), obtaining
and .Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Onset of Superfluidity in 4He Films Adsorbed on Disordered Substrates
We have studied 4He films adsorbed in two porous glasses, aerogel and Vycor,
using high precision torsional oscillator and DC calorimetry techniques. Our
investigation focused on the onset of superfluidity at low temperatures as the
4He coverage is increased. Torsional oscillator measurements of the 4He-aerogel
system were used to determine the superfluid density of films with transition
temperatures as low as 20 mK. Heat capacity measurements of the 4He-Vycor
system probed the excitation spectrum of both non-superfluid and superfluid
films for temperatures down to 10 mK. Both sets of measurements suggest that
the critical coverage for the onset of superfluidity corresponds to a mobility
edge in the chemical potential, so that the onset transition is the bosonic
analog of a superconductor-insulator transition. The superfluid density
measurements, however, are not in agreement with the scaling theory of an onset
transition from a gapless, Bose glass phase to a superfluid. The heat capacity
measurements show that the non-superfluid phase is better characterized as an
insulator with a gap.Comment: 15 pages (RevTex), 21 figures (postscript
A cryogenic GaAs PHEMT/ferroelectric Ku-band tunable oscillator
A Ku-band tunable oscillator operated at and below 77 K is described. The oscillator is based on two separate technologies : a 0.25 ”m GaAs pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (PHEMT) circuit optimized for cryogenic operation, and a gold micostrip ring resonator patterned on a thin ferroelectric (SrTiO3) film which was laser ablated onto a LaAlO3 substrate. A tuning range of up to 3% of the center frequency was achieved by applying dcbias between the ring resonator and ground plane. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first tunable oscillator based on a thin film ferroelectric structure demonstrated in the microwave frequency range. The design methodology of the oscillator and the performance characteristics of the tunable resonator are described