660 research outputs found
Evidence for Thermally Activated Spontaneous Fluxoid Formation in Superconducting Thin-Film Rings
We have observed spontaneous fluxoid generation in thin-film rings of the
amorphous superconductor MoSi, cooled through the normal-superconducting
transition, as a function of quench rate and externally applied magnetic field,
using a variable sample temperature scanning SQUID microscope. Our results can
be explained using a model of freezout of thermally activated fluxoids,
mediated by the transport of bulk vortices across the ring walls. This
mechanism is complementary to a mechanism proposed by Kibble and Zurek, which
only relies on causality to produce a freezout of order parameter fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Observation of Andreev bound states in bicrystal grain-boundary Josephson junctions of the electron doped superconductor LaCeCuO
We observe a zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) in the ab-plane quasiparticle
tunneling spectra of thin film grain-boundary Josephson junctions made of the
electron doped cuprate superconductor LaCeCuO. An applied magnetic field
reduces the spectral weight around zero energy and shifts it non-linearly to
higher energies consistent with a Doppler shift of the Andreev bound states
(ABS) energy. For all magnetic fields the ZBCP appears simultaneously with the
onset of superconductivity. These observations strongly suggest that the ZBCP
results from the formation of ABS at the junction interfaces, and,
consequently, that there is a sign change in the symmetry of the
superconducting order parameter of this compound consistent with a d-wave
symmetry.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures; December 2004, accepted for publication in Phys.
Rev.
Angular dependence of Josephson currents in unconventional superconducting junctions
Josephson effect in junctions between unconventional superconductors is
studied theoretically within the model describing the effects of interface
roughness. The particularly important issue of applicability of the frequently
used Sigrist-Rice formula for Josephson current in d-wave superconductor /
insulator / d-wave superconductor junctions is addressed. We show that although
the SR formula is not applicable in the ballistic case, it works well for rough
interfaces when the diffusive normal metal regions exist between the d-wave
superconductor and the insulator. It is shown that the SR approach only takes
into account the component of the d-wave pair potential symmetric with respect
to an inversion around the plane perpendicular to the interface. Similar
formula can be derived for general unconventional superconductors with
arbitrary angular momentum l.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Phase-Sensitive Tetracrystal Pairing-Symmetry Measurements and Broken Time-Reversal Symmetry States of High Tc Superconductors
A detailed analysis of the symmetric tetracrystal geometry used in
phase-sensitive pairing symmetry experiments on high Tc superconductors is
carried out for both bulk and surface time-reversal symmetry-breaking states,
such as the d+id' and d+is states. The results depend critically on the
substrate geometry. In the general case, for the bulk d+id' (or d+is) state,
the measured flux quantization should in general not be too different from that
obtained in the pure d-wave case, provided |d'| << |d| (or |s| << |d|).
However, in one particular high symmetry geometry, the d+id' state gives
results that allow it to be distinguished from the pure d and the d + is
states. Results are also given for the cases where surface d+is or d+id' states
occur at a [110] surface of a bulk d-wave superconductor. Remarkably, in the
highest symmetry geometry, a number of the broken time-reversal symmetry states
discussed above give flux quantization conditions usually associated with
states not having broken time- reversal symmetry.Comment: 6 page
Contiguous 3d and 4f magnetism: towards strongly correlated 3d electrons in YbFe2Al10
We present magnetization, specific heat, and 27Al NMR investigations on
YbFe2Al10 over a wide range in temperature and magnetic field. The magnetic
susceptibility at low temperatures is strongly enhanced at weak magnetic
fields, accompanied by a ln(T0/T) divergence of the low-T specific heat
coefficient in zero field, which indicates a ground state of correlated
electrons. From our hard X-ray photo emission spectroscopy (HAXPES) study, the
Yb valence at 50 K is evaluated to be 2.38. The system displays valence
fluctuating behavior in the low to intermediate temperature range, whereas
above 400 K, Yb3+ carries a full and stable moment, and Fe carries a moment of
about 3.1 mB. The enhanced value of the Sommerfeld Wilson ratio and the dynamic
scaling of spin-lattice relaxation rate divided by T [27(1/T1T)] with static
susceptibility suggests admixed ferromagnetic correlations. 27(1/T1T)
simultaneously tracks the valence fluctuations from the 4f -Yb ions in the high
temperature range and field dependent antiferromagnetic correlations among
partially Kondo screened Fe 3d moments at low temperature, the latter evolve
out of an Yb 4f admixed conduction band.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
c-axis Josephson Tunnelling in Twinned and Untwinned YBCO-Pb Junctions
Within a microscopic two band model of planes and chains with a pairing
potential in the planes and off diagonal pairing between planes and chains we
find that the chains make the largest contribution to the Josephson tunnelling
current and that through them the d-wave part of the gap contributes to the
current. This is contrary to the usual assumption that for a d-wave tetragonal
superconductor the c-axis Josephson current for incoherent tunnelling into an
s-wave superconductor is zero while that of a d-wave orthorhombic
superconductor with a small s-wave component to its gap it is small but
non-zero. Nevertheless it has been argued that the effect of twins in YBCO
would lead to cancellation between pairs of twins and so the observation of a
current in c-axis YBCO-Pb experiments is evidence against a d-wave type order
parameter. We argue that both theory and experiment give evidence that the two
twin orientations are not necessarily equally abundant and that the ratio of
tunnelling currents in twinned and untwinned materials should be related to the
relative abundance of the two twin orientations.Comment: 6 pages, RevTeX 3.0, 15 PostScript figur
The effect of an in-plane magnetic field on the interlayer transport of quasiparticles in layered superconductors
We consider the quasiparticle c-axis conductivity in highly anisotropic
layered compounds in the presence of the magnetic field parallel to the layers.
We show that at low temperatures the quasiparticle interlayer conductivity
depends strongly on the orientation of the in-plane magnetic field if the
excitation gap has nodes on the Fermi surface. Thus measurements of the
angle-dependent c-axis (out-of-plane) magnetoresistance, as a function of the
orientation of the magnetic field in the layers, provide information on the
momentum dependence of the superconducting gap (or pseudogap) on the Fermi
surface. Clean and highly anisotropic layered superconductors seem to be the
best candidates for probing the existence and location of the nodes on the
Fermi surface.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, including 2 PostScript figures, to appear in Phys.
Rev. Let
Threshold electric field in unconventional density waves
As it is well known most of charge density wave (CDW) and spin density wave
(SDW) exhibit the nonlinear transport with well defined threshold electric
field E_T. Here we study theoretically the threshold electric field of
unconventional density waves. We find that the threshold field increases
monotonically with temperature without divergent behaviour at T_c, unlike the
one in conventional CDW. The present result in the 3D weak pinning limit
appears to describe rather well the threshold electric field observed recently
in the low-temperature phase (LTP) of alpha-(BEDT-TTF)_2KHg(SCN)_4.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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