221 research outputs found
A study of flux quantization Final technical report
Magnetic flux quantization in superconductor
Kinetic inductance measured in a superconducting wire
Ultrasensitive technique to measure kinetic inductance has test specimen included as part of the inductance of a tank circuit of a tunnel diode oscillator. Frequency counter measures shift in frequency of oscillator, caused by changes in inductance. Frequency shift in tank circuit is proportional to change in kinetic inductanc
Thermodynamic properties of Pb determined from pressure-dependent critical-field measurements
We have carried out extensive low-temperature (1.5 to 10 K) measurements of
the critical field, , for the element Pb up to a pressure of GPa.
From this data the electronic entropy, specific heat, thermal expansion
coefficient and compressibility is calculated as a function of temperature,
pressure and magnetic field. The zero-field data is consistent with direct
thermodynamic measurements and the -dependence of and specific heat
coefficient, allows the determination of the -dependence of
the pairing interaction.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, in press Phys. Rev.
The fabrication of reproducible superconducting scanning tunneling microscope tips
Superconducting scanning tunneling microscope tips have been fabricated with
a high degree of reproducibility. The fabrication process relies on sequential
deposition of superconducting Pb and a proximity-coupled Ag capping layer onto
a Pt/Ir tip. The tips were characterized by tunneling into both normal-metal
and superconducting films. The simplicity of the fabrication process, along
with the stability and reproducibility of the tips, clear the way for tunneling
studies with a well-characterized, scannable superconducting electrode.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, REVTeX. Submitted to Rev. Sci. Instru
Dynamic exchange coupling and Gilbert damping in magnetic multilayers
We theoretically study dynamic properties of thin ferromagnetic films in
contact with normal metals. Moving magnetizations cause a flow of spins into
adjacent conductors, which relax by spin flip, scatter back into the
ferromagnet, or are absorbed by another ferromagnet. Relaxation of spins
outside the moving magnetization enhances the overall damping of the
magnetization dynamics in accordance with the Gilbert phenomenology. Transfer
of spins between different ferromagnets by these nonequilibrium spin currents
leads to a long-ranged dynamic exchange interaction and novel collective
excitation modes. Our predictions agree well with recent
ferromagnetic-resonance experiments on ultrathin magnetic films.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, for MMM'02 proceeding
Spin-Imbalance and Magnetoresistance in Ferromagnet/Superconductor/Ferromagnet Double Tunnel Junctions
We theoretically study the spin-dependent transport in a ferromagnet/super-
conductor/ferromagnet double tunnel junction. The tunneling current in the
antiferromagnetic alignment of the magnetizations gives rise to a spin
imbalance in the superconductor. The resulting nonequilibrium spin density
strongly suppresses the superconductivity with increase of bias voltage and
destroys it at a critical voltage Vc. The results provide a new method not only
for measuring the spin polarization of ferromagnets but also for controlling
superconductivity and tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) by applying the bias
voltage.Comment: 4pages, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Current and Spin-Torque in Double Tunnel Barrier Ferromagnet - Superconductor - Ferromagnet Systems
We calculate the current and the spin-torque in small symmetric double tunnel
barrier ferromagnet - superconductor - ferromagnet (F-S-F) systems.
Spin-accumulation on the superconductor governs the transport properties when
the spin-flip relaxation time is longer than the transport dwell time. In the
elastic transport regime, it is demonstrated that the relative change in the
current (spin-torque) for F-S-F systems equals the relative change in the
current (spin-torque) for F-N-F systems upon changing the relative
magnetization direction of the two ferromagnets. This differs from the results
in the inelastic transport regime where spin-accumulation suppresses the
superconducting gap and dramatically changes the magnetoresistance [S.
Takahashi, H. Imamura, and S. Maekawa, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3911 (1999)]. The
experimental relevance of the elastic and inelastic transport regimes,
respectively, as well as the reasons for the change in the transport properties
are discussed.Comment: 7 page
Dynamical reentrance and geometry imposed quantization effects in Nb-AlOx-Nb Josephson junction arrays
In this paper, we report on different phenomena related to the magnetic
properties of artificially prepared highly ordered (periodic) two-dimensional
Josephson junction arrays (2D-JJA) of both shunted and unshunted Nb-AlOx-Nb
tunnel junctions. By employing mutual-inductance measurements and using a
high-sensitive bridge, we have thoroughly investigated (both experimentally and
theoretically) the temperature and magnetic field dependence of complex AC
susceptibility of 2D-JJA. We also demonstrate the use of the scanning SQUID
microscope for imaging the local flux distribution within our unshunted arrays
Superconductivity in Ultrasmall Metallic Grains
We develop a theory of superconductivity in ultrasmall (nm-scale) metallic
grains having a discrete electronic eigenspectrum with a mean level spacing of
order of the bulk gap. The theory is based on calculating the eigenspectrum
using a generalized BCS variational approach, whose applicability has been
extensively demonstrated in studies of pairing correlations in nuclear physics.
We discuss how conventional mean field theory breaks down with decreasing
sample size, how the so-called blocking effect weakens pairing correlations in
states with non-zero total spin, and how this affects the discrete
eigenspectrum's behavior in a magnetic field, which favors non-zero total spin.
In ultrasmall grains, spin magnetism dominates orbital magnetism, just as in
thin films in a parallel field; but whereas in the latter the magnetic-field
induced transition to a normal state is known to be first-order, we show that
in ultrasmall grains it is softened by finite size effects. Our calculations
qualitatively reproduce the magnetic-field dependent tunneling spectra for
individual aluminum grains measured recently by Ralph, Black and Tinkham. We
argue that previously-discussed parity effects for the odd-even ground state
energy difference are presently not observable for experimental reasons, and
propose an analogous parity effect for the pair-breaking energy that should be
observable provided that the grain size can be controlled sufficiently well.
Finally, experimental evidence is pointed out that the dominant role played by
time-reversed pairs of states, well-established in bulk and in dirty
superconductors, persists also in ultrasmall grains.Comment: 21 pages RevTeX, 12 EPS figures included, uses epsf.st
Mean Field Calculation of Thermal Properties of Simple Nucleon Matter on a Lattice
Thermal properties of single species nucleon matter are investigated assuming
a simple form of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. The nucleons are placed on a
cubic lattice, hopping from site to site and interacting through a
spin-dependent force, as in the extended, attractive Hubbard model. A mean
field calculation in the Hartree-Fock Bogoliubov approximation suggests that
the superfluid ground state generated by strong nucleon pairing undergoes a
second-order phase transition to a normal state as the temperature increases.
The calculation is shown to lead to a promising description of the thermal
properties of low-density neutron matter. A possibility of a density wave phase
is also examined.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Physical Review
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