Defective Vortex Lattices in Layered Superconductors with Point Pins at the Extreme Type-II Limit

The mixed phase of layered superconductors with no magnetic screening is studied through a partial duality analysis of the corresponding frustrated XY model in the presence of weak random point pins. Isolated layers exhibit a defective vortex lattice at low temperature that is phase coherent. Sufficiently weak Josephson coupling between adjacent layers results in an entangled vortex solid that exhibits weak superconductivity across layers. The corresponding vortex liquid state shows an inverted specific heat anomaly that we propose accounts for that seen in YBCO. A three-dimensional vortex lattice with dislocations occurs at stronger coupling. This crossover sheds light on the apparent discrepancy concerning the observation of a vortex-glass phase in recent Monte Carlo simulations of the same XY model.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. To appear in PRB, rapid communicatio

Inelastic electron transport in granular arrays

Transport properties of granular systems are governed by Coulomb blockade effects caused by the discreteness of the electron charge. We show that, in the limit of vanishing mean level spacing on the grains, the low-temperature behavior of 1d and 2d arrays is insulating at any inter-grain coupling (characterized by a dimensionless conductance g.) In 2d and g>>1, there is a sharp Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless crossover to the conducting phase at a certain temperature, T_{BKT}. These results are obtained by applying an instanton analysis to map the conventional `phase' description of granular arrays onto the dual `charge' representation.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure

Weak Charge Quantization on Superconducting Islands

We consider the Coulomb blockade on a superconductive quantum dot strongly coupled to a lead through a tunnelling barrier and/or normal diffusive metal. Andreev transport of the correlated pairs leads to quantum fluctuations of the charge on the dot. These fluctuations result in exponential renormalization of the effective charging energy. We employ two complimentary ways to approach the problem, leading to the coinciding results: the instanton and the functional RG treatment of the non-linear sigma model. We also derive the charging energy renormalization in terms of arbitrary transmission matrix of the multi-channel interface.Comment: 21 pages, 4 eps figures, RevTe

The FLASH instrument for water vapor measurements on board the high-altitude airplane

A fluorescent airborne stratospheric hygrometer (FLASH) for precise water vapor measurements on board a high-altitude airplane in the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere has been developed and produced at the Central Aerological Observatory. The range of measured water vapor concentrations is 0.5-300 ppmv at altitudes of 8-21 km. The results of laboratory tests of the instrument are compared to the data of the other hygrometers. Some results of water vapor measurements on board the Geofizika M55 high-altitude airplane in different regions of the Earth are presented

Erection of building frames using structural-cabling steel reinforced-concrete designs

Викладено основні аспекти організації й технології монтажу сталезалізобетонних структурновантових конструкцій покриття з попереднім укрупненням елементів у просторові блоки без застосування монтажних кранів.Изложены основные аспекты технологии монтажа сталежелезобетонных структурно-вантовых конструкций покрытия с предварительным укрупнением в пространственные блоки без помощи кранов.The basic aspects of the technology of installation composite structural assembly cable structures covering a preliminary consolidation in spatial blocks without using the mounting taps