1,063 research outputs found
Node-like excitations in superconducting PbMo6S8 probed by scanning tunneling spectroscopy
We present the first scanning tunneling spectroscopy study on the Chevrel
phase PbMo6S8, an extreme type II superconductor with a coherence length only
slightly larger than in high-Tc cuprates. Tunneling spectra measured on
atomically flat terraces are spatially homogeneous and show well-defined
coherence peaks. The low-energy spectral weight, the zero bias conductance and
the temperature dependence of the gap are incompatible with a conventional
isotropic s-wave interpretation, revealing the presence of low-energy
excitations in the superconducting state. We show that our data are consistent
with the presence of nodes in the superconducting gap.Comment: To appear in PRB; 5 pages, 4 figure
Superconducting properties of the In-substituted topological crystalline insulator, SnTe
We report detailed investigations of the properties of a superconductor obtained by substituting In at the Sn site in the topological crystalline insulator (TCI), SnTe. Transport, magnetization and heat capacity measurements have been performed on crystals of SnInTe, which is shown to be a bulk superconductor with at ~K and at ~K. The upper and lower critical fields are estimated to be ~T and ~mT respectively, while indicates this material is a strongly type II superconductor
Electrical conductivity beyond linear response in layered superconductors under magnetic field
The time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau approach is used to investigate nonlinear
response of a strongly type-II superconductor. The dissipation takes a form of
the flux flow which is quantitatively studied beyond linear response. Thermal
fluctuations, represented by the Langevin white noise, are assumed to be strong
enough to melt the Abrikosov vortex lattice created by the magnetic field into
a moving vortex liquid and marginalize the effects of the vortex pinning by
inhomogeneities. The layered structure of the superconductor is accounted for
by means of the Lawrence-Doniach model. The nonlinear interaction term in
dynamics is treated within Gaussian approximation and we go beyond the often
used lowest Landau level approximation to treat arbitrary magnetic fields. The
I-V curve is calculated for arbitrary temperature and the results are compared
to experimental data on high- superconductor
YBaCuO.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Carbon isotope effect in superconducting MgCNi_3
The effect of Carbon isotope substitution on T_c in the intermetallic
perovskite superconductor MgCNi_3 is reported. Four independent groups of
samples were synthesized and characterized. The average T_c for the Carbon-12
samples was found to be 7.12(2) K and the average T_c for the Carbon-13 samples
was found to be 6.82(2) K. The resulting carbon isotope effect coefficient is
alfa_C = 0.54(3). This indicates that carbon-based phonons play a critical role
in the presence of superconductivity in this compound.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. B. 4 pages, 1 figur
Magnetization hysteresis and time decay measurements in FeSeTe : Evidence for fluctuation in mean free path induced pinning
We present results of magnetic measurements relating to vortex phase diagram
in a single crystal of FeSeTe which displays second
magnetization peak anomaly for . The possible role of the
crystalline anisotropy on vortex pinning is explored via magnetic torque
magnetometry. We present evidence in favor of pinning related to spatial
variations of the charge carrier mean free path leading to small bundle vortex
pinning by randomly distributed (weak) pinning centers for both
and . This is further corroborated using magnetization data for in a single crystal of FeSeTe. Dynamical
response across second magnetization peak (SMP) anomaly in
FeSeTe has been compared with that across the well researched
phenomenon of peak effect (PE) in a single crystal of CeRu.Comment: 11 figures, provided additional data in another sample, added Fig.
Electron Magnetic Resonance: The Modified Bloch Equation
We find a modified Bloch equation for the electronic magnetic moment when the
magnetic moment explicitly contains a diamagnetic contribution (a magnetic
field induced magnetic moment arising from the electronic orbital angular
momentum) in addition to the intrinsic magnetic moment of the electron. The
modified Bloch is coupled to equations of motion for the position and momentum
operators. In the presence of static and time varying magnetic field
components, the magnetic moment oscillates out of phase with the magnetic field
and power is absorbed by virtue of the magnetic field induced magnetic moment,
even in the absence of coupling to the environment. We explicitly work out the
spectrum and absorption for the case of a state electron
Quasiparticle scattering time in superconducting films: from dirty to clean limit
We study the quasiparticle energy relaxation processes in superconducting Nb
films of different thicknesses corresponding to different electron mean free
paths in a state far from equilibrium, that is the highly dissipative flux-flow
state driven up to the instability point. From the measured current-voltage
curves we derive the vortex critical velocity for several temperatures.
From the values, the quasiparticle energy relaxation time
is evaluated within the Larkin-Ovchinnikov model and
numerical calculations of the quasiparticle energy relaxation rates are carried
out to support the experimental findings. Besides the expected constant
behavior of for the dirty samples, we observe a strong
temperature dependence of the quasiparticle energy relaxation time in the clean
samples. This feature is associated with the increasing contribution from the
electron-phonon scattering process as the dirty limit is approached from the
clean regime
Stable vortex-antivortex molecules in mesoscopic superconducting triangles
A thermodynamically stable vortex-antivortex pattern has been revealed in
mesoscopic type I superconducting triangles, contrary to type II
superconductors where similar patterns are unstable. The stable
vortex-antivortex "molecule" appears due to the interplay between two factors:
a repulsive vortex-antivortex interaction in type I superconductors and the
vortex confinement in the triangle.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, E-mail addresses: [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Measurement of corrosion content of archaeological lead artifacts by their Meissner response in the superconducting state; a new dating method
Meissner fraction in the superconducting state of lead archaeological
artifacts is used to evaluate the mass of the uncorroded metal in the sample.
Knowing the total mass of the sample the mass of all corrosion products is
established. It is shown that this mass correlates with the archaeological age
of the lead artifacts over a time span of ~2500 years. Well-dated untreated
lead samples from Tel-Dor, the Persian period, Caesarea, the Byzantine and the
Crusader periods as well as contemporary data were used to establish the dating
correlation. This new chemical dating method is apparently applicable to lead
artifacts buried in soils with the pH>6.5. In such soils the corrosion process
is very slow and the corrosion products, mainly PbO and PbCO3, accumulate over
hundreds of years. The method presented is in principle non-destructive.
(corresponding author: )Comment: File ARCH_4.pdf 14 pages including 1 table and 5 figure
Time Ordering in Kicked Qubits
We examine time ordering effects in strongly, suddenly perturbed two-state
quantum systems (kicked qubits) by comparing results with time ordering to
results without time ordering. Simple analytic expressions are given for state
occupation amplitudes and probabilities for singly and multiply kicked qubits.
We investigate the limit of no time ordering, which can differ in different
representations.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figure
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