Aharonov-Bohm Effect at liquid-nitrogen temperature: Frohlich superconducting quantum device

The Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect has been accepted and has promoted interdisciplinary scientific activities in modern physics. To observe the AB effect in condensed matter physics, the whole system needs to maintain phase coherence, in a tiny ring of the diameter 1 micrometer and at low temperatures below 1 K. We report that AB oscillations have been measured at high temperature 79 K by use of charge-density wave (CDW) loops in TaS3 ring crystals. CDW condensate maintained macroscopic quantum coherence, which extended over the ring circumference 85 micrometer. The periodicity of the oscillations is h/2e in accuracy within a 10 percent range. The observation of the CDW AB effect implies Frohlich superconductivity in terms of macroscopic coherence and will provide a novel quantum interference device running at room temperature.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Effect of random disorder and spin frustration on the reentrant spin glass phase and ferromagnetic phase in stage-2 Cu_{0.93}Co_{0.07}Cl_{2} graphite intercalation compound near the multicritical point

Stage-2 Cu$_{0.93}$Co$_{0.07}$Cl$_{2}$ graphite intercalation compound magnetically behaves like a reentrant ferromagnet near the multicritical point ($c_{MCP} \approx 0.96$). It undergoes two magnetic phase transitions at $T_{RSG}$ ($= 6.64 \pm 0.05$ K) and $T_{c}$ ($= 8.62 \pm 0.05$ K). The static and dynamic nature of the ferromagnetic and reentrant spin glass phase has been studied using DC and AC magnetic susceptibility. Characteristic memory phenomena of the DC susceptibility are observed at $T_{RSG}$ and $T_{c}$. The nonlinear AC susceptibility $\chi_{3}^{\prime}$ has a positive local maximum at $T_{RSG}$, and a negative local minimum at $T_{c}$. The relaxation time $\tau$ between $T_{RSG}$ and $T_{c}$ shows a critical slowing down: $\tau$ with $x = 13.1 \pm 0.4$ and $\tau_{0}^{*} = (2.5 \pm 0.5) \times 10^{-13}$ sec. The influence of the random disorder on the critical behavior above $T_{c}$ is clearly observed: $\alpha = -0.66$, $\beta = 0.63$, and $\gamma = 1.40$. The exponent of $\alpha$ is far from that of 3D Heisenberg model.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Monolithic Ge:Ga Detector Development for SAFARI

We describe the current status and the prospect for the development of monolithic Ge:Ga array detector for SAFARI. Our goal is to develop a 64x64 array for the 45 -- 110 um band, on the basis of existing technologies to make 3x20 monolithic arrays for the AKARI satellite. For the AKARI detector we have achieved a responsivity of 10 A/W and a read-out noise limited NEP (noise equivalent power) of 10^-17 W/rHz. We plan to develop the detector for SAFARI with technical improvements; significantly reduced read-out noise with newly developed cold read-out electronics, mitigated spectral fringes as well as optical cross-talks with a multi-layer antireflection coat. Since most of the elemental technologies to fabricate the detector are flight-proven, high technical readiness levels (TRLs) should be achieved for fabricating the detector with the above mentioned technical demonstrations. We demonstrate some of these elemental technologies showing results of measurements for test coatings and prototype arrays.Comment: To appear in Proc. Workshop "The Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology & Astrophysics: Revealing the Origins of Planets and Galaxies". Eds. A.M. Heras, B. Swinyard, K. Isaak, and J.R. Goicoeche

Self-assembled ErAs islands in GaAs for optical-heterodyne THz generation

We report photomixer devices fabricated on a material consisting of self-assembled ErAs islands in GaAs, which is grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The devices perform comparably and provide an alternative to those made from low-temperature-grown GaAs. The photomixer's frequency response demonstrates that the material is a photoconductor with subpicosecond response time, in agreement with time-resolved differential reflectance measurements. The material also provides the other needed properties such as high photocarrier mobility and high breakdown field, which exceeds 2×10^5 V/cm. The maximum output power before device failure at frequencies of 1 THz was of order 0.1 µW. This material has the potential to allow engineering of key photomixer properties such as the response time and dark resistance