956 research outputs found
Proximity Effect, Andreev Reflections, and Charge Transport in Mesoscopic Superconducting-Semiconducting Heterostructures
In the quasi-twodimensional (Q2D) electron gas of an InAs channel between an
AlSb substrate and superconducting Niobium layers the proximity effect induces
a pair potential so that a Q2D mesoscopic
superconducting-normal-superconducting (SNS) junction forms in the channel. The
pair potential is calculated with quasiclassical Green's functions in the clean
limit. For such a junction alternating Josephson currents and current-voltage
characteristics (CVCs) are computed, using the non-equilibrium quasiparticle
wavefunctions which solve the time-dependent Bogoliubov-de Gennes Equations.
The CVCs exhibit features found experimentally by the Kroemer group: A steep
rise of the current at small voltages ("foot") changes at a "corner current" to
a much slower increase of current with higher voltages, and the zero-bias
differential resistance increases with temperature. Phase-coherent multiple
Andreev reflections and the associated Cooper pair transfers are the physical
mechanisms responsible for the oscillating Josephson currents and the CVCs.
Additional experimental findings not reproduced by the theory require model
improvements, especially a consideration of the external current leads which
should give rise to hybrid quasiparticle/collective mode excitations.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures (consisting of 5 .ps-files), added referenc
Photoelectron spectra of anionic sodium clusters from time-dependent density-functional theory in real-time
We calculate the excitation energies of small neutral sodium clusters in the
framework of time-dependent density-functional theory. In the presented
calculations, we extract these energies from the power spectra of the dipole
and quadrupole signals that result from a real-time and real-space propagation.
For comparison with measured photoelectron spectra, we use the ionic
configurations of the corresponding single-charged anions. Our calculations
clearly improve on earlier results for photoelectron spectra obtained from
static Kohn-Sham eigenvalues
The Hubble Legacy Archive ACS Grism Data
A public release of slitless spectra, obtained with ACS/WFC and the G800L
grism, is presented. Spectra were automatically extracted in a uniform way from
153 archival fields (or "associations") distributed across the two Galactic
caps, covering all observations to 2008. The ACS G800L grism provides a
wavelength range of 0.55-1.00 \mu40 \ \AA / pixel\sim 80\ \AA32,149i_{\rm
AB}0.2-4.6$.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics; 29 pages, 16
Figures, 4 Tables in text and 3Tables in Appendi
Andreev States in long shallow SNS constrictions
We study Andreev bound states in a long shallow normal constriction, which is
open to a superconductor at both ends. The interesting features of such setup
include the absence of electron-hole symmetry and the interference of electron
waves along the constriction. We compare results of a numerical approach based
on the Bogoliubov equations with those of a refined semiclassical description.
Three types of Andreev bound states occur in the constriction: {\it i}) one
where both electron and hole wave part of the bound state propagate through the
constriction, {\it ii}) one where neither electron nor hole wave part
propagate, and {\it iii}) one where only the electron wave propagates. We show
that in a wide energy region the spacing between the Andreev states is strongly
modulated by the interference of electron waves passing the constriction
Two Avenues to Self-Interaction Correction within Kohn-Sham Theory: Unitary Invariance is the Shortcut
The most widely-used density functionals for the exchange-correlation energy
are inexact for one-electron systems. Their self-interaction errors can be
severe in some applications. The problem is not only to correct the
self-interaction error, but to do so in a way that will not violate
size-consistency and will not go outside the standard Kohn-Sham density
functional theory. The solution via the optimized effective potential (OEP)
method will be discussed, first for the Perdew-Zunger self-interaction
correction (whose performance for molecules is briefly summarized) and then for
the more modern self-interaction corrections based upon unitarily-invariant
indicators of iso-orbital regions. For the latter approaches, the OEP
construction is greatly simplified. The kinetic-energy-based iso-orbital
indicator \tau^W_\sigma(\re)/\tau_\sigma(\re) will be discussed and plotted,
along with an alternative exchange-based indicator
The Hubble Legacy Archive NICMOS Grism Data
The Hubble Legacy Archive (HLA) aims to create calibrated science data from
the Hubble Space Telescope archive and make them accessible via user-friendly
and Virtual Observatory (VO) compatible interfaces. It is a collaboration
between the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the Canadian Astronomy
Data Centre (CADC) and the Space Telescope - European Coordinating Facility
(ST-ECF). Data produced by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) instruments with
slitless spectroscopy modes are among the most difficult to extract and
exploit. As part of the HLA project, the ST-ECF aims to provide calibrated
spectra for objects observed with these HST slitless modes. In this paper, we
present the HLA NICMOS G141 grism spectra. We describe in detail the
calibration, data reduction and spectrum extraction methods used to produce the
extracted spectra. The quality of the extracted spectra and associated direct
images is demonstrated through comparison with near-IR imaging catalogues and
existing near-IR spectroscopy. The output data products and their associated
metadata are publicly available through a web form at http://hla.stecf.org and
via VO interfaces. In total, 2470 spectra of 1923 unique targets are included
in the current release.Comment: 18 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Violation of the `Zero-Force Theorem' in the time-dependent Krieger-Li-Iafrate approximation
We demonstrate that the time-dependent Krieger-Li-Iafrate approximation in
combination with the exchange-only functional violates the `Zero-Force
Theorem'. By analyzing the time-dependent dipole moment of Na5 and Na9+, we
furthermore show that this can lead to an unphysical self-excitation of the
system depending on the system properties and the excitation strength.
Analytical aspects, especially the connection between the `Zero-Force Theorem'
and the `Generalized-Translation Invariance' of the potential, are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Equilibrium and time-dependent Josephson current in one-dimensional superconducting junctions
We investigate the transport properties of a one-dimensional
superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (S-N-S) system described within the
tight-binding approximation. We compute the equilibrium dc Josephson current
and the time-dependent oscillating current generated after the switch-on of a
constant bias. In the first case an exact embedding procedure to calculate the
Nambu-Gorkov Keldysh Green's function is employed and used to derive the
continuum and bound states contributions to the dc current. A general formalism
to obtain the Andreev bound states (ABS) of a normal chain connected to
superconducting leads is also presented. We identify a regime in which all
Josephson current is carried by the ABS and obtain an analytic formula for the
current-phase relation in the limit of long chains. In the latter case the
condition for perfect Andreev reflections is expressed in terms of the
microscopic parameters of the model, showing a limitation of the so called
wide-band-limit (WBL) approximation. When a finite bias is applied to the S-N-S
junction we compute the exact time-evolution of the system by solving
numerically the time-dependent Bogoliubov-deGennes equations. We provide a
microscopic description of the electron dynamics not only inside the normal
region but also in the superconductors, thus gaining more information with
respect to WBL-based approaches. Our scheme allows us to study the ac regime as
well as the transient dynamics whose characteristic time-scale is dictated by
the velocity of multiple Andreev reflections
Dynamics of conversion of supercurrents into normal currents, and vice versa
The generation and destruction of the supercurrent in a superconductor (S)
between two resistive normal (N) current leads connected to a current source is
computed from the source equation for the supercurrent density. This equation
relates the gradient of the pair potential's phase to electron and hole
wavepackets that create and destroy Cooper pairs in the N/S interfaces. Total
Andreev reflection and supercurrent transmission of electrons and holes are
coupled together by the phase rigidity of the non-bosonic Cooper-pair
condensate. The calculations are illustrated by snapshots from a computer film.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, accepted by Phys. Rev.
Coordination-driven magnetic-to-nonmagnetic transition in manganese doped silicon clusters
The interaction of a single manganese impurity with silicon is analyzed in a
combined experimental and theoretical study of the electronic, magnetic, and
structural properties of manganese-doped silicon clusters. The structural
transition from exohedral to endohedral doping coincides with a quenching of
high-spin states. For all geometric structures investigated, we find a similar
dependence of the magnetic moment on the manganese coordination number and
nearest neighbor distance. This observation can be generalized to manganese
point defects in bulk silicon, whose magnetic moments fall within the observed
magnetic-to-nonmagnetic transition, and which therefore react very sensitively
to changes in the local geometry. The results indicate that high spin states in
manganese-doped silicon could be stabilized by an appropriate lattice
expansion
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