Magnetic field effect in hybrid nanostructures

We examine the effect of the magnetic field on the proximity effect in nanostructures, self consistently using the Bogoliubov-deGennes formalism within the two dimensional extended Hubbard model. We calculate the local density of states and the pair amplitude. We study several nanostructures: superconductor - two dimensional electron gas, superconductor - ferromagnet. In these structures the magnetic field can be considered as a modulation parameter for the proximity effect.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Superconductor-Ferromagnet Bi-Layers: a Comparison of s-Wave and d-Wave Order Parameters

We study superconductor-ferromagnet bi-layers, not only for s-wave but also for d-wave superconductors. We observe oscillations of the critical temperature when varying the thickness of the ferromagnetic layer for both s-wave and d-wave superconductors. However, for a rotated d-wave order parameter the critical temperature differs considerably from that for the unrotated case. In addition we calculate the density of states for different thicknesses of the ferromagnetic layer; the results reflect the oscillatory behaviour of the superconducting correlations.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Order parameter oscillations in Fe/Ag/Bi2Sr2CaCu2O{8+delta} tunnel junctions

We have performed temperature dependent tunneling conductance spectroscopy on Fe/Ag/Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (BSCCO) planar junctions. The multilayered Fe counterelectrode was designed to probe the proximity region of the ab-plane of BSCCO. The spectra manifested a coherent oscillatory behavior with magnitude and sign dependent on the energy, decaying with increasing distance from the junction barrier, in conjunction with the theoretical predictions involving d-wave superconductors coupled with ferromagnets. The conductance oscillates in antiphase at E = 0 and E = +/-Delta. Spectral features characteristic to a broken time-reversal pairing symmetry are detected and they do not depend on the geometrical characteristics of the ferromagnetic film.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figures Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Dynamics of the Electro-Optic response of Blue Bronze

We have studied the charge density wave (CDW) repolarization dynamics in blue bronze by applying square-wave voltages of different frequencies to the sample and measuring the changes in infrared transmittance, proportional to CDW strain. The frequency dependence of the electro-transmittance was fit to a modified harmonic oscillator response and the evolution of the parameters as functions of voltage, position, and temperature are discussed. Resonant frequencies decrease with distance from the current contacts, indicating that the resulting delays are intrinsic to the CDW with the strain effectively flowing from the contact. For a fixed position, the average relaxation time has a voltage dependence given by tau_0~V^-p, with 1<p<2. The temperature dependence of the fitting parameters shows that the dynamics are governed by both the force on the CDW and the CDW current: for a given force and position, both the relaxation and delay times are inversely proportional to the CDW current as temperature is varied. The long relaxation and delay times (~ 1 ms) suggest that the strain response involves the motion of macroscopic objects, presumably CDW phase dislocation lines.Comment: 36 pages, including 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Temperature and Field Dependence of the Energy Gap of MgB2/Pb planar junction

We have constructed MgB2/Pb planar junctions for both temperature and field dependence studies. Our results show that the small gap is a true bulk property of MgB2 superconductor, not due to surface effects. The temperature dependence of the energy gap manifests a nearly BCS-like behavior. Analysis of the effect of magnetic field on junctions suggests that the energy gap of MgB2 depends non-linearly on the magnetic field. Moreover, MgB2 has an upper critical field of 15 T, in agreement with some reported Hc2 from transport measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Dynamics of the electro-optic response of charge-density-wave conductors

We have measured the frequency, voltage, and position dependence of the electro-optic response of the charge-density-wave (CDW) conductors TaS$_{3}$ and blue bronze at T $\sim$ 80 K. The response, assumed to be proportional to the local strain of the CDW, is characterized in terms of a relaxation time and a surprisingly low resonant frequency (i.e. delay); in some cases, there is also evidence for decay of the response at long times

Thermodynamic properties of the spin-chain compound Pr3_{3}RuO7_{7}

We have measured the magnetic susceptibility ($\chi )$ and specific heat (c$_{\rm P})$ of single crystals of Pr$_{3}$RuO$_{7}$. The susceptibility indicates a Neel transition at T$_{\rm N }= 54$ K, with an unusually mean-field specific heat anomaly. While $\chi$ indicates that all intrinsic moments order at T$_{\rm N}$, a Schottky-like anomaly in c$_{\rm P}$ suggests that there remains a small crystal-field splitting between a magnetic and non-magnetic state of the rare earth ions