4,628 research outputs found
Nonuniform Self-Organized Dynamical States in Superconductors with Periodic Pinning
We consider magnetic flux moving in superconductors with periodic pinning
arrays. We show that sample heating by moving vortices produces negative
differential resistivity (NDR) of both N and S type (i.e., N- and S-shaped) in
the voltage-current characteristic (VI curve). The uniform flux flow state is
unstable in the NDR region of the VI curve. Domain structures appear during the
NDR part of the VI curve of an N type, while a filamentary instability is
observed for the NDR of an S type. The simultaneous existence of the NDR of
both types gives rise to the appearance of striking self-organized (both
stationary and non-stationary) two-dimensional dynamical structures.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Josephson tunnel junctions with nonlinear damping for RSFQ-qubit circuit applications
We demonstrate that shunting of Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor
Josephson junctions by Superconductor-Insulator-Normal metal (S-I-N) structures
having pronounced non-linear I-V characteristics can remarkably modify the
Josephson dynamics. In the regime of Josephson generation the phase behaves as
an overdamped coordinate, while in the superconducting state the damping and
current noise are strikingly small, that is vitally important for application
of such junctions for readout and control of Josephson qubits. Superconducting
Nb/AlO/Nb junction shunted by Nb/AlO/AuPd junction of S-I-N type
was fabricated and, in agreement with our model, exhibited non-hysteretic I-V
characteristics at temperatures down to at least 1.4 K.Comment: 4 pages incl. 3 figure
Geometry-induced localization of thermal fluctuations in ultrathin superconducting structures
Thermal fluctuations of the order parameter in an ultrathin triangular shaped
superconducting structure are studied near , in zero applied field. We
find that the order parameter is prone to much larger fluctuations in the
corners of the structure as compared to its interior. This geometry-induced
localization of thermal fluctuations is attributed to the fact that condensate
confinement in the corners is characterised by a lower effective
dimensionality, which favors stronger fluctuations.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Dynamics of vortex penetration, jumpwise instabilities and nonlinear surface resistance of type-II superconductors in strong rf fields
We consider nonlinear dynamics of a single vortex in a superconductor in a
strong rf magnetic field . Using the London theory, we
calculate the dissipated power , and the transient time scales
of vortex motion for the linear Bardeen-Stephen viscous drag force, which
results in unphysically high vortex velocities during vortex penetration
through the oscillating surface barrier. It is shown that penetration of a
single vortex through the ac surface barrier always involves penetration of an
antivortex and the subsequent annihilation of the vortex antivortex pairs.
Using the nonlinear Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) viscous drag force at higher vortex
velocities results in a jump-wise vortex penetration through the surface
barrier and a significant increase of the dissipated power. We calculate the
effect of dissipation on nonlinear vortex viscosity and the rf vortex
dynamics and show that it can also result in the LO-type behavior,
instabilities, and thermal localization of penetrating vortex channels. We
propose a thermal feedback model of , which not only results in the LO
dependence of for a steady-state motion, but also takes into account
retardation of temperature field around rapidly accelerating vortex, and a
long-range interaction with the surface. We also address the effect of pinning
on the nonlinear rf vortex dynamics and the effect of trapped magnetic flux on
the surface resistance calculated as a function or rf frequency and
field. It is shown that trapped flux can result in a temperature-independent
residual resistance at low , and a hysteretic low-field dependence of
, which can {\it decrease} as is increased, reaching a minimum
at much smaller than the thermodynamic critical field .Comment: 18 figure
Giant thermoemf in multiterminal superconductor/normal metal mesoscopic structures
We considered a mesoscopic superconductor/normal metal (S/N) structure in
which the N reservoirs are maintained at different temperatures. It is shown
that in the absence of current between the N reservoirs a voltage difference
arises between the superconducting and normal conductors. The voltage
oscillates with increasing phase difference between the
superconductors, and its magnitude does not depend on the small parameter
Comment: Resubmited, some changes to Text and Figure
What is the value of the superconducting gap of a F/S/F trilayer ?
Based on the model of F/S/F trilayer with atomic thickness [A. Buzdin and M.
Daumens, cond-mat/0305320] we discuss the relative roles of pair-breaking and
proximity effects, as a function of the exchange field, of disorder and of a
finite thickness in the superconducting layer. The exchange field can be small
(weak ferromagnets) or large (strong ferromagnets) compared to the
superconducting gap. With weak ferromagnets we show the existence of a
reentrant superconducting gap for the F/S/F trilayer with atomic thickness in
the parallel alignment (equivalent to the F/S bilayer). Qualitatively small
disorder is equivalent to reducing the value of the hopping parameters. In the
presence of a finite thickness in the superconducting layer the superconducting
gap in the antiparallel alignment is larger than in the parallel alignment,
meaning that pair breaking dominates over the proximity effect.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Fermiology via the electron momentum distribution
Investigations of the Fermi surface via the electron momentum distribution
reconstructed from either angular correlation of annihilation radiation (or
Compton scattering) experimental spectra are presented. The basis of these
experiments and mathematical methods applied in reconstructing
three-dimensional densities from line (or plane) projections measured in these
experiments are described. The review of papers where such techniques have been
applied to study the Fermi surface of metallic materials with showing their
main results is also done.Comment: 22 pages, 9 Figures, 4 Table
Solitonic ground states in (color-) superconductivity
We present a general framework for analyzing inhomogeneous (color-)
superconducting phases in mean-field approximation without restriction to the
Ginzburg-Landau approach. As a first application, we calculate real gap
functions with general one-dimensional periodic structures for a
3+1-dimensional toy model having two fermion species. The resulting solutions
are energetically favored against homogeneous superconducting (BCS) and normal
conducting phases in a window for the chemical potential difference which is
about twice as wide as for the most simple plane-wave ansatz ("Fulde-Ferrell
phase"). At the lower end of this window, we observe the formation of a soliton
lattice and a continuous phase transition to the BCS phase. At the higher end
of the window the gap functions are sinusoidal, and the transition to the
normal conducting phase is of first order. We also discuss the quasiparticle
excitation spectrum in the inhomogeneous phase. Finally, we compare the gap
functions with the known analytical solutions of the 1+1-dimensional theory.Comment: 24 pages, 18 figures; v2: minor modifications, to appear in PR
The rigidity of crystalline color superconducting quark matter
We calculate the shear modulus of crystalline color superconducting quark
matter, showing that this phase of dense, but not asymptotically dense,
three-flavor quark matter responds to shear stress like a very rigid solid. To
evaluate the shear modulus, we derive the low energy effective Lagrangian that
describes the phonons that originate from the spontaneous breaking of
translation invariance by the spatial modulation of the gap parameter .
These massless bosons describe space- and time-dependent fluctuations of the
crystal structure and are analogous to the phonons in ordinary crystals. The
coefficients of the spatial derivative terms of the phonon effective Lagrangian
are related to the elastic moduli of the crystal; the coefficients that encode
the linear response of the crystal to a shearing stress define the shear
modulus. We analyze the two particular crystal structures which are
energetically favored over a wide range of densities, in each case evaluating
the phonon effective action and the shear modulus up to order in a
Ginzburg-Landau expansion, finding shear moduli which are 20 to 1000 times
larger than those of neutron star crusts. The crystalline color superconducting
phase has long been known to be a superfluid -- by picking a phase its order
parameter breaks the quark-number symmetry spontaneously. Our results
demonstrate that this superfluid phase of matter is at the same time a rigid
solid. We close with a rough estimate of the pinning force on the rotational
vortices which would be formed embedded within this rigid superfluid upon
rotation. Our results raise the possibility that (some) pulsar glitches could
originate within a quark matter core deep within a neutron star.Comment: 38 pages, 5 figures. v3. Two new paragraphs in Section V
(Conclusion); some additional small changes. A paragraph discussing
supercurrents added in Section I (Introduction). Version to appear in Phys.
Rev.
Re-entrant superconductivity in Nb/Cu(1-x)Ni(x) bilayers
We report on the first observation of a pronounced re-entrant
superconductivity phenomenon in superconductor/ferromagnetic layered systems.
The results were obtained using a superconductor/ferromagnetic-alloy bilayer of
Nb/Cu(1-x)Ni(x). The superconducting transition temperature T_{c} drops sharply
with increasing thickness d_{CuNi} of the ferromagnetic layer, until complete
suppression of superconductivity is observed at d_{CuNi}= 4 nm. Increasing the
Cu(1-x)Ni(x) layer thickness further, superconductivity reappears at
d_{CuNi}=13 nm. Our experiments give evidence for the pairing function
oscillations associated with a realization of the quasi-one dimensional
Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) like state in the ferromagnetic layer.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, REVTEX4/twocolum
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