Voltage rectification effects in mesoscopic superconducting triangles: experiment and modelling

The interaction of externally applied currents with persistent currents induced by magnetic field in a mesoscopic triangle is investigated. As a consequence of the superposition of these currents, clear voltage rectification effects are observed. We demonstrate that the amplitude of the rectified signal strongly depends on the configurations of the current leads with the lowest signal obtained when the contacts are aligned along a median of the triangle. When the contacts are aligned off-centered compared to the geometrical center, the voltage response shows oscillations as a function of the applied field, whose sign can be controlled by shifting the contacts. These results are in full agreement with theoretical predictions for an analogous system consisting of a closed loop with a finite number of identical Josephson junctions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, published in Phys. Rev.

High-field magnetoexcitons in unstrained GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum dots

The magnetic field dependence of the excitonic states in unstrained GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs quantum dots is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The diamagnetic shift for the ground and the excited states are studied in magnetic fields of varying orientation. In the theoretical study, calculations are performed within the single band effective mass approximation, including band nonparabolicity, the full experimental three-dimensional dot shape and the electron-hole Coulomb interaction. These calculations are compared with the experimental results for both the ground and the excited states in fields up to 50 Tesla. Good agreement is found between theory and experiment

Phase slips in mesoscopic superconducting triangles

peer reviewedVoltage-current (V(I)) characteristics are investigated in the superconducting state of an equilateral triangle of 2.2 mu m(2) area. Several steps in the V(I) curves indicate the presence of phase slip centers in the triangle. The field dependence of these steps follows the Little-Parks oscillations of the phase boundary, associated with the change of vorticity. The influence of the contacts manifests itself as an excess voltage and a negative differential resistance. In addition we show that the position of the current contacts modify the superconducting phase boundary measurements. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Critical field enhancement in hybrid superconductor/ferromagnet mesoscopic disks

We investigated experimentally the nucleation of superconductivity in a mesoscopic hybrid structure, consisting of a thin superconducting disk covered with a ferromagnetic layer with an in-plane magnetic moment. By applying a magnetic field in the plane of the structure, the remanent magnetic state of the ferromagnet can be switched from a flux-closure state where field lines are confined inside the ferromagnet to a polarized state with nonzero stray fields at the edges. This change in the magnetic state causes a drastic modification on the superconductor/normal-state phase boundary of the hybrid sample. In the polarized state a re-entrant transition line and a strong broadening of the phase boundary are observed

Different regimes of nucleation of superconductivity in mesoscopic superconductor/ferromagnet hybrids

The competition between two regimes of the nucleation of superconductivity is investigated experimentally and theoretically in a mesoscopic disk-shaped superconductor/ferromagnet hybrid. By changing the magnetic state of a multilayered Co/Pt disk one can reversibly affect the magnetic-field dependence of the critical temperature T(c)(H) of an Al layer. We demonstrate that an enhancement of the magnetic field near the edge of the out-of-plane magnetized disk either stimulates the nucleation of superconductivity at the disk perimeter due to the field compensation effect or prevents it due to edge magnetic barrier (for relatively low parallel to H parallel to values). As a consequence, the presence of such magnetic-field pattern makes it possible to eliminate boundary effects for mesoscopic superconducting samples. Switching from one nucleation regime to another while sweeping H leads to an abrupt change of the slope of the T(c)(H) envelope

BREAKTHROUGH PAIN DURING LABOR: CONVENTIONAL PATIENT CONTROLLED EPIDURAL ANALGESIA WITHOUT BACKGROUND INFUSION VS PROGRAMMED INTERMITTENT EPIDURAL BOLUSES: A RANDOMIZED DOUBLE BLIND STUDY IN NULLIPAROUS WOMEN

status: publishe

Programmed intermittent epidural boluses versus patient controlled epidural analgesia without background infusion for labour analgesia: effects on local anaesthetic consumption and maternal motor function: a randomized, double-blind study in nulliparous women

edition: Abstracts of Free Papers Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Obstetric Anaesthetists' Associationstatus: publishe