349 research outputs found
Conductance fluctuations in metallic nanogaps made by electromigration
We report on low temperature conductance measurements of gold nanogaps
fabricated by controlled electromigration. Fluctuations of the conductance due
to quantum interferences and depending both on bias voltage and magnetic field
are observed. By analyzing the voltage and magnetoconductance correlation
functions we determine the type of electron trajectories generating the
observed quantum interferences and the effective characteristic time of phase
coherence in our device.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in J. Appl. Phy
The Cooper Pair Pump as a Quantized Current Source
A new charge quantization in a phase-polarized Cooper Pair Pump (CPP) is
proposed, based on the topological properties of its Hamiltonian ground state
over a three-dimensional parameter space . The charge is quantized
using a set of path in covering the surface of a torus, and is a
multiple of the integer Chern index of this surface. This quantization is
asymptotic but the pumped charge converges rapidly to the quantized value with
the increase in the path frequency. The topological nature of the current makes
this CPP implementation an excellent candidate for a metrological current
standard.Comment: 4 PRL page
Smearing of Coulomb Blockade by Resonant Tunneling
We study the Coulomb blockade in a grain coupled to a lead via a resonant
impurity level. We show that the strong energy dependence of the transmission
coefficient through the impurity level can have a dramatic effect on the
quantization of the grain charge. In particular, if the resonance is
sufficiently narrow, the Coulomb staircase shows very sharp steps even if the
transmission through the impurity at the Fermi energy is perfect. This is in
contrast to the naive expectation that perfect transmission should completely
smear charging effects.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Towards single-electron metrology
We review the status of the understanding of single-electron transport (SET)
devices with respect to their applicability in metrology. Their envisioned role
as the basis of a high-precision electrical standard is outlined and is
discussed in the context of other standards. The operation principles of single
electron transistors, turnstiles and pumps are explained and the fundamental
limits of these devices are discussed in detail. We describe the various
physical mechanisms that influence the device uncertainty and review the
analytical and numerical methods needed to calculate the intrinsic uncertainty
and to optimise the fabrication and operation parameters. Recent experimental
results are evaluated and compared with theoretical predictions. Although there
are discrepancies between theory and experiments, the intrinsic uncertainty is
already small enough to start preparing for the first SET-based metrological
applications.Comment: 39 pages, 14 figures. Review paper to be published in International
Journal of Modern Physics
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Exploring the feasibility and acceptability of the contents, design, and functionalities of an online intervention promoting mental health, wellbeing, and study skills in Higher Education students
Background: Substantial numbers of students in Higher Education (HE) are reporting mental health difficulties, such as mild to moderate symptoms of depression and anxiety. Coupled with academic skills challenges, these difficulties can lead to decreased academic performance, low levels of study satisfaction, and eventually drop out. Student support services are facing budget cuts and can only attend to limited numbers of students, usually the ones who present with more severe mental health problems. Moreover, face-to-face contact may not appeal to those students who feel embarrassed by their problems or are afraid of being stigmatised. To address this important problem, an online psychological wellbeing and study skills support system called MePlusMe, has been developed to provide personalised support to its users. In the present study we investigated the feasibility and acceptability of the contents, design, and functionalities of the system.
Methods: An offline version of the system was introduced to 13 postgraduate and undergraduate students (mean age = 31.3 years, SD = 10.25 years; 4 males) in a UK HE Institution, who presented with mild or moderate mental health difficulties. The participants evaluated the design of the system, its functionalities, and contents at Baseline and at Weeks 2, 4, and 8.
Results: Participants found the system easy to use, professional, and efficient and its contents non-judgemental and informative. Participants stated that engaging with and practicing the techniques targeted at mental health difficulties led to improvements in positive thinking and self-confidence, while the study skills techniques were practical. Suggestions for further improvement included the development of an app and an option for direct engagement with professionals.
Conclusions: The findings confirmed the acceptability of the contents, design and functionalities of the system, while providing useful information to inform its further development. Next steps include a feasibility study, which will test and quantify the effects on everyday functioning, mood, mental wellbeing, and academic self-efficacy after using the system, and subsequently a randomized controlled trial, which will evaluate its effectiveness
Effect of Level Statistics on Superconductivity in Ultrasmall Metallic Grains
We examine the destruction of superconducting pairing in metallic grains as
their size is decreased for both even and odd numbers of electrons. This occurs
when the average level spacing d is of the same order as the BCS order
parameter. The energy levels of these grains are randomly distributed according
to random matrix theory, and we must work statistically. We find that the
average value of the critical level spacing is larger than for the model of
equally spaced levels for both parities, and derive numerically the
probabilities that a grain of mean level spacing d shows pairing.Comment: 12 pages, 2 PostScript files, RevTex format, submitted to PR
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Part One: The Man Who Loved Cities
Part One: The Man Who Loved Cities -- Whyte on Whyte: A Walk in the City / Eugenie L. Birch -- Holly Whyte’s Journalism of Place / Charles E. Little -- The Energizer / Ann Louise Strong -- Sowing the Seeds / Thomas Balsley -- The Wit and Wisdom of Holly Whyte / Gathered by Albert LaFarge
Rf-induced transport of Cooper pairs in superconducting single electron transistors in a dissipative environment
We investigate low-temperature and low-voltage-bias charge transport in a
superconducting Al single electron transistor in a dissipating environment,
realized as on-chip high-ohmic Cr microstrips. In our samples with relatively
large charging energy values Ec > EJ, where EJ is the energy of the Josephson
coupling, two transport mechanisms were found to be dominating, both based on
discrete tunneling of individual Cooper pairs: Depending on the gate voltage
Vg, either sequential tunneling of pairs via the transistor island (in the open
state of the transistor around the points Qg = CgVg = e mod(2e), where Cg is
the gate capacitance) or their cotunneling through the transistor (for Qg away
of these points) was found to prevail in the net current. As the open states of
our transistors had been found to be unstable with respect to quasiparticle
poisoning, high-frequency gate cycling (at f ~ 1 MHz) was applied to study the
sequential tunneling mechanism. A simple model based on the master equation was
found to be in a good agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
New model for system of mesoscopic Josephson contacts
Quantum fluctuations of the phases of the order parameter in 2D arrays of
mesoscopic Josephson junctions and their effect on the destruction of
superconductivity in the system are investigated by means of a quantum-cosine
model that is free of the incorrect application of the phase operator. The
proposed model employs trigonometric phase operators and makes it possible to
study arrays of small superconducting granules, pores filled with superfluid
helium, or Josephson junctions in which the average number of particles
(effective bosons, He atoms, and so on) is small, and the standard approach
employing the phase operator and the particle number operator as conjugate ones
is inapplicable. There is a large difference in the phase diagrams between
arrays of macroscopic and mesoscopic objects for and ( is
the characteristic interaction energy of the particle per granule and is
the Josephson coupling constant). Reentrant superconductivity phenomena are
discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 Postscript figure
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