1,025 research outputs found
Stability of flat zero-energy states at the dirty surface of a nodal superconductor
We discuss the stability of highly degenerate zero-energy states tha appear
at the surface of a nodal superconductor preserving time-reversal symmetry. The
existence of such surface states is a direct consequence of the nontrivial
topological numbers defined in the restricted Brillouin zones in the clean
limit. In experiments, however, potential disorder is inevitable near the
surface of a real superconductor, which may lift the high degeneracy at zero
energy. We show that an index defined in terms of the chiral eigenvalues of the
zero-energy states can be used to measure the degree of degeneracy at zero
energy in the presence of potential disorder. We also discuss the relationship
between the index and the topological numbers.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Large-scale imaging of brain network activity from >10,000 neocortical cells
Large-scale recording from populations of neurons is a promising strategy in the study of complex brain function. Here we introduce a simple optical technique that simultaneously probes the calcium activity of ~10,000 cells at the single cell resolution _in vitro_. We employed a combination of a low-magnification objective lens and an electron-multiplying charge-coupled device megapixel camera to achieve large-view-field and high-resolution imaging
Symmetry conditions of a nodal superconductor for generating robust flat-band Andreev bound states at its dirty surface
We discuss the symmetry property of a nodal superconductor that hosts robust
flat-band zero-energy states at its surface under potential disorder. Such
robust zero-energy states are known to induce the anomalous proximity effect in
a dirty normal metal attached to a superconductor. A recent study has shown
that a topological index describes the number of
zero-energy states at the dirty surface of a -wave superconductor. We
generalize the theory to clarify the conditions required for a superconductor
that enables . Our results show that is realized in a topological material that belongs to
either the BDI or CII class. We also present two realistic Hamiltonians that
result in .Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Tunable -Josephson junction with a quantum anomalous Hall insulator
We theoretically study the Josephson current in a superconductor/quantum
anomalous Hall insulator/superconductor junction by using the lattice Green
function technique. When an in-plane external Zeeman field is applied to the
quantum anomalous Hall insulator, the Josephson current flows without a
phase difference across the junction . The phase shift
appealing in the current-phase relationship ) is
proportional to the amplitude of Zeeman fields and depends on the direction of
Zeeman fields. A phenomenological analysis of the Andreev reflection processes
explains the physical origin of . A quantum anomalous Hall insulator
breaks time-reversal symmetry and mirror reflection symmetry simultaneously.
However it preserves magnetic mirror reflection symmetry. Such characteristic
symmetry property enable us to have a tunable -junction with a quantum
Hall insulator.Comment: 10pages, 9figure
Quantization of Conductance Minimum and Index Theorem
We discuss the minimum value of the zero-bias differential conductance
in a junction consisting of a normal metal and a nodal
superconductor preserving time-reversal symmetry. Using the quasiclassical
Green function method, we show that is quantized at in the limit of strong impurity scatterings in the
normal metal. The integer represents the number of perfect
transmission channels through the junction. An analysis of the chiral symmetry
of the Hamiltonian indicates that corresponds to the
Atiyah-Singer index in mathematics.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur
Josephson effect in two-band superconductors
We study theoretically the Josephson effect between two time-reversal
two-band superconductors, where we assume the equal-time spin-singlet -wave
pair potential in each conduction band. %as well as the band asymmetry and the
band hybridization in the normal state. The superconducting phase at the first
band and that at the second band characterize a
two-band superconducting state. We consider a Josephson junction where an
insulating barrier separates two such two-band superconductors. By applying the
tunnel Hamiltonian description, the Josephson current is calculated in terms of
the anomalous Green's function on either side of the junction. We find that the
Josephson current consists of three components which depend on three types of
phase differences across the junction: the phase difference at the first band
, the phase difference at the second band ,
and the difference at the center-of-mass phase .
A Cooper pairs generated by the band hybridization carries the last current
component. In some cases, the current-phase relationship deviates from the
sinusoidal function as a result of time-reversal symmetry breaking down.Comment: 6 page, 2 figure
Spontaneous Plasticity of Multineuronal Activity Patterns in Activated Hippocampal Networks
Using functional multineuron imaging with single-cell resolution, we examined how hippocampal networks by themselves change the spatiotemporal patterns of spontaneous activity during the course of emitting spontaneous activity. When extracellular ionic concentrations were changed to those that mimicked in vivo conditions, spontaneous activity was increased in active cell number and activity frequency. When ionic compositions were restored to the control conditions, the activity level returned to baseline, but the weighted spatial dispersion of active cells, as assessed by entropy-based metrics, did not. Thus, the networks can modify themselves by altering the internal structure of their correlated activity, even though they as a whole maintained the same level of activity in space and time
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