Superconductor-Nanowire Devices from Tunneling to the Multichannel Regime: Zero-Bias Oscillations and Magnetoconductance Crossover

We present transport measurements in superconductor-nanowire devices with a gated constriction forming a quantum point contact. Zero-bias features in tunneling spectroscopy appear at finite magnetic fields, and oscillate in amplitude and split away from zero bias as a function of magnetic field and gate voltage. A crossover in magnetoconductance is observed: Magnetic fields above ~ 0.5 T enhance conductance in the low-conductance (tunneling) regime but suppress conductance in the high-conductance (multichannel) regime. We consider these results in the context of Majorana zero modes as well as alternatives, including Kondo effect and analogs of 0.7 structure in a disordered nanowire.Comment: Supplemental Material here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1742676/Churchill_Supplemental.pd

Spin coherent manipulation in Josephson weak links

Novel designs of Josephson weak links based on semiconducting nanowires combined with circuit QED techniques have enabled the resolution of their fine structure due to spin-orbit interactions, opening a path towards Andreev spin qubits. Nevertheless, direct manipulation of the spin within a given Andreev state is in general suppressed compared to interdoublet manipulation in the absence of Zeeman effects. In addition, noisy spin-flip mechanisms limit any coherent manipulation protocol to spin postselection. We propose a combination of a spin polarization protocol analogous to sideband cooling with stimulated Raman adiabatic passage specifically tailored for these systems. We show this approach is robust for a large range of design parameters, including the currently rather stringent coherence time

Conformal linear gravity in de Sitter space

It has been shown that the theory of linear conformal quantum gravity must include a tensor field of rank-3 and mixed symmetry [1]. In this paper, we obtain the corresponding field equation in de Sitter space. Then, in order to relate this field with the symmetric tensor field of rank-2, \K_{\alpha\beta} related to graviton, we will define homomorphisms between them. Our main result is that if one insists \K_{\alpha\beta} to be a unitary irreducible representation of de Sitter and conformal groups it must satisfy a filed equation of order 6, which is obtained.Comment: 10 page

Atomic Structure and Magnetism of Ordered and Disordered Al₀.₅Fe₀.₅₋ₓMnₓ Alloys

The equiatomic FeAl alloy has been modified by partial substitution of Mn for Fe, and its magnetic and structural properties investigated by neutron diffraction (ND), x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS), and SQUID magnetometry both for the ordered (B2) and disordered states. The unit cell volume is measured to increase linearly with Mn concentration. XAFS measurements indicate local structural displacements occur at the Mn sites in both ordered and disordered states that may act to frustrate long-range magnetic order (LRMO). Although MS and ND show no evidence of LRMO, SQUID magnetometry indicates an induced movement in the ordered state that increases with disorder but does not saturate at fields up to 5 T

One-Step Processing of Spinel Ferrites via the High-Energy Ball Milling of Binary Oxides

MnZn ferrites have been produced via the high-energy ball milling of binary oxide precursors. The milled ferrites have a nonequilibrium cation site distribution, with an unusually high population of Zn cations on the octahedral sites. The particle size distribution drops precipitously with milling time from 60±1 to ∼14±1 nm at 10 h, but increases to 18.5±1 nm after long durations (20–40 h) concurrent with the formation of nearly pure ferrite. A 1 h anneal at 673 K facilitates a redistribution of cations to their near equilibrium sites. This processing approach circumvents the need for deleterious high-temperature heat treatments that often lead to nonstoichiometries in the resulting ferrites

Experimental determination of the evolution of the Bjorken integral at low Q^2

We extract the Bjorken integral Gamma^{p-n}_1 in the range 0.17 < Q^2 < 1.10 GeV^2 from inclusive scattering of polarized electrons by polarized protons, deuterons and 3He, for the region in which the integral is dominated by nucleon resonances. These data bridge the domains of the hadronic and partonic descriptions of the nucleon. In combination with earlier measurements at higher Q^2, we extract the non-singlet twist-4 matrix element f_2.Comment: Quoted world data updated. Minor change in some results, Minor rephrasin

Measurement of double beta decay of ¹⁰⁰Mo to excited states in the NEMO 3 experiment

The double beta decay of ¹⁰⁰Mo to the 0_{1}^{+} and 2_{1}^{+} excited states of ¹⁰⁰Ru is studied using the NEMO 3 data. After the analysis of 8024 h of data the half-life for the two-neutrino double beta decay of ¹⁰⁰Mo to the excited 0_{1}^{+} state is measured to be T_{1/2}^{2v} = [5.7_{-0.9}^{+1.3} (stat.) ± 0.8 (syst.)] x 10²⁰ y. The signal-to-background ratio is equal to 3. Information about energy and angular distributions of emitted electrons is also obtained. No evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay to the excited 0_{1}^{+} state has been found. The corresponding half-life limit is T_{1/2}^{0v} (0⁺→0_{1}^{+}) > 8.9 x 10²² y (at 90% C.L.). The search for the double beta decay to the 2_{1}^{+} excited state has allowed the determination of limits on the half-life for the two neutrino mode T_{1/2}^{0v} (0⁺→2_{1}^{+}) > 1.1 x 10²¹ y (at 90% C.L.) and for the neutrinoless mode T_{1/2}^{0v} (0⁺→2_{1}^{+}) > 1.6 x 10²³ y (at 90% C.L.)

Matter-Wave Solitons in an F=1 Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate

Following our previous work [J. Ieda, T. Miyakawa, M. Wadati, cond-mat/0404569] on a novel integrable model describing soliton dynamics of an F=1 spinor Bose--Einstein condensate, we discuss in detail the properties of the multi-component system with spin-exchange interactions. The exact multiple bright soliton solutions are obtained for the system where the mean-field interaction is attractive (c_0 < 0) and the spin-exchange interaction is ferromagnetic (c_2 < 0). A complete classification of the one-soliton solution with respect to the spin states and an explicit formula of the two-soliton solution are presented. For solitons in polar state, there exists a variety of different shaped solutions including twin peaks. We show that a "singlet pair" density can be used to distinguish those energetically degenerate solitons. We also analyze collisional effects between solitons in the same or different spin state(s) by computing the asymptotic forms of their initial and final states. The result reveals that it is possible to manipulate the spin dynamics by controlling the parameters of colliding solitons.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol.73 No.11 (2004