Energy dependence of current noise in superconducting/normal metal junctions

Interference of electronic waves undergoing Andreev reflection in diffusive conductors determines the energy profile of the conductance on the scale of the Thouless energy. A similar dependence exists in the current noise, but its behavior is known only in few limiting cases. We consider a metallic diffusive wire connected to a superconducting reservoir through an interface characterized by an arbitrary distribution of channel transparencies. Within the quasiclassical theory for current fluctuations we provide a general expression for the energy dependence of the current noise.Comment: 5 pages, 1 Figur

Theory of microwave spectroscopy of Andreev bound states with a Josephson junction

We present a microscopic theory for the current through a tunnel Josephson junction coupled to a non-linear environment, which consists of an Andreev two-level system coupled to a harmonic oscillator. It models a recent experiment [Bretheau, Girit, Pothier, Esteve, and Urbina, Nature (London) 499, 312 (2013)] on photon spectroscopy of Andreev bound states in a superconducting atomic-size contact. We find the eigenenergies and eigenstates of the environment and derive the current through the junction due to inelastic Cooper pair tunneling. The current-voltage characteristic reveals the transitions between the Andreev bound states, the excitation of the harmonic mode that hybridizes with the Andreev bound states, as well as multi-photon processes. The calculated spectra are in fair agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Temperature-dependent Ginzburg-Landau parameter

Taking into account both the orbital and the paramagnetic depairing effects we derive a simple analytic formula for the temperature dependence of the Ginzburg-Landau parameter valid in vicinity of field dependent critical temperature in a type-II superconductor.Comment: 3 pages, no figure

Critical fluorescence of a transmon at the Schmid transition

We investigate inelastic microwave photon scattering by a transmon qubit embedded in a high-impedance circuit. The transmon undergoes a charge-localization (Schmid) transition upon the impedance reaching the critical value. Due to the unique transmon level structure, the fluorescence spectrum carries a signature of the transition point. At higher circuit impedance, quasielastic photon scattering may account for the main part of the inelastic scattering cross-section; we find its dependence on the qubit and circuit parameters.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Distribution function of persistent current

We introduce a variant of the replica trick within the nonlinear sigma model that allows calculating the distribution function of the persistent current. In the diffusive regime, a Gaussian distribution is derived. This result holds in the presence of local interactions as well. Breakdown of the Gaussian statistics is predicted for the tails of the distribution function at large deviations

New superconducting phases in field-induced organic superconductor lambda-(BETS)2FeCl4

We derive the parallel upper critical field, Hc2, as a function of the temperature T in quasi-2D organic compound lambda-(BETS)2FeCl4, accounting for the formation of the nonuniform LOFF state. To further check the 2D LOFF model we propose to study the Hc2(T) curve at low T in tilted fields, where the vortex state is described by the high Landau level functions characterized by the index n. We predict a cascade of first order transitions between vortex phases with different n, between phases with different types of the symmetry at given n and the change of the superconducting transition from the second order to the first order as FeCl4 ions are replaced partly by GaCl4 ions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in PR

Quantum Charge Fluctuations in a Superconducting Grain

We consider charge quantization in a small superconducting grain that is contacted by a normal-metal electrode and is controlled by a capacitively coupled gate. At zero temperature and zero conductance $G$ between the grain and the electrode, the charge $Q$ as a function of the gate voltage $V_g$ changes in steps. The step height is $e$ if $\Delta<E_c$, where $\Delta$ and $E_c$ are, respectively, the superconducting gap and the charging energy of the grain. Quantum charge fluctuations at finite conductance remove the discontinuity in the dependence of $Q$ on $V_g$ and lead to a finite step width $\propto G^2\Delta$. The resulting shape of the Coulomb blockade staircase is of a novel type. The grain charge is a continuous function of $V_g$ while the differential capacitance, $dQ/dV_g$, has discontinuities at certain values of the gate voltage. We determine analytically the shape of the Coulomb blockade staircase also at non-zero temperatures.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Single-dopant resonance in a single-electron transistor

Single dopants in semiconductor nanostructures have been studied in great details recently as they are good candidates for quantum bits, provided they are coupled to a detector. Here we report coupling of a single As donor atom to a single-electron transistor (SET) in a silicon nanowire field-effect transistor. Both capacitive and tunnel coupling are achieved, the latter resulting in a dramatic increase of the conductance through the SET, by up to one order of magnitude. The experimental results are well explained by the rate equations theory developed in parallel with the experiment.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure