Asymmetric higher-harmonic SQUID as a Josephson diode

We theoretically investigate asymmetric two-junction SQUIDs with different current-phase relations in the two Josephson junctions, involving higher Josephson harmonics. Our main focus is on the "minimal model" with one junction in the SQUID loop possessing the sinusoidal current-phase relation and the other one featuring additional second harmonic. The current-voltage characteristic (CVC) turns out to be asymmetric, $I(-V) \neq -I(V)$. The asymmetry is due to the presence of the second harmonic and depends on the magnetic flux through the interferometer loop, vanishing only at special values of the flux such as integer or half-integer in the units of the flux quantum. The system thus demonstrates the flux-tunable Josephson diode effect (JDE), the simplest manifestations of which is the direction dependence of the critical current. We analyze asymmetry of the overall $I(V)$ shape both in the absence and in the presence of external ac irradiation. In the voltage-source case of external signal, the CVC demonstrates the Shapiro spikes. The integer spikes are asymmetric (manifestation of the JDE) while the half-integer spikes remain symmetric. In the current-source case, the CVC demonstrates the Shapiro steps. The JDE manifests itself in asymmetry of the overall CVC shape, including integer and half-integer steps.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures. Version 2: extended introduction, added references. Final version as published in PR

Classical properties of low-dimensional conductors: Giant capacitance and non-Ohmic potential drop

Electrical field arising around an inhomogeneous conductor when an electrical current passes through it is not screened, as distinct from 3D conductors, in low-dimensional conductors. As a result, the electrical field depends on the global distribution of the conductivity sigma(x) rather than on the local value of it, inhomogeneities of sigma(x) produce giant capacitances C(omega) that show frequency dependence at relatively low omega, and electrical fields develop in vast regions around the inhomogeneities of sigma(x). A theory of these phenomena is presented for 2D conductors.Comment: 5 pages, two-column REVTeX, to be published in Physical Review Letter

The valence band energy spectrum of HgTe quantum wells with inverted band structures

The energy spectrum of the valence band in HgTe/Cd$_x$Hg$_{1-x}$Te quantum wells with a width $(8-20)$~nm has been studied experimentally by magnetotransport effects and theoretically in framework $4$-bands $kP$-method. Comparison of the Hall density with the density found from period of the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations clearly shows that the degeneracy of states of the top of the valence band is equal to 2 at the hole density $p< 5.5\times 10^{11}$~cm$^{-2}$. Such degeneracy does not agree with the calculations of the spectrum performed within the framework of the $4$-bands $kP$-method for symmetric quantum wells. These calculations show that the top of the valence band consists of four spin-degenerate extremes located at $k\neq 0$ (valleys) which gives the total degeneracy $K=8$. It is shown that taking into account the "mixing of states" at the interfaces leads to the removal of the spin degeneracy that reduces the degeneracy to $K=4$. Accounting for any additional asymmetry, for example, due to the difference in the mixing parameters at the interfaces, the different broadening of the boundaries of the well, etc, leads to reduction of the valleys degeneracy, making $K=2$. It is noteworthy that for our case two-fold degeneracy occurs due to degeneracy of two single-spin valleys. The hole effective mass ($m_h$) determined from analysis of the temperature dependence of the amplitude of the SdH oscillations show that $m_h$ is equal to $(0.25\pm0.02)\,m_0$ and weakly increases with the hole density. Such a value of $m_h$ and its dependence on the hole density are in a good agreement with the calculated effective mass.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure

Why nonlocal recursion operators produce local symmetries: new results and applications

It is well known that integrable hierarchies in (1+1) dimensions are local while the recursion operators that generate them usually contain nonlocal terms. We resolve this apparent discrepancy by providing simple and universal sufficient conditions for a (nonlocal) recursion operator in (1+1) dimensions to generate a hierarchy of local symmetries. These conditions are satisfied by virtually all known today recursion operators and are much easier to verify than those found in earlier work. We also give explicit formulas for the nonlocal parts of higher recursion operators, Poisson and symplectic structures of integrable systems in (1+1) dimensions. Using these two results we prove, under some natural assumptions, the Maltsev--Novikov conjecture stating that higher Hamiltonian, symplectic and recursion operators of integrable systems in (1+1) dimensions are weakly nonlocal, i.e., the coefficients of these operators are local and these operators contain at most one integration operator in each term.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX 2e, final versio

Representations of sl(2,?) in category O and master symmetries

We show that the indecomposable sl(2,?)-modules in the Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand category O naturally arise for homogeneous integrable nonlinear evolution systems. We then develop a new approach called the O scheme to construct master symmetries for such integrable systems. This method naturally allows computing the hierarchy of time-dependent symmetries. We finally illustrate the method using both classical and new examples. We compare our approach to the known existing methods used to construct master symmetries. For new integrable equations such as a Benjamin-Ono-type equation, a new integrable Davey-Stewartson-type equation, and two different versions of (2+1)-dimensional generalized Volterra chains, we generate their conserved densities using their master symmetries

Energy spectrum of valence band in HgTe quantum wells on the way from a two to the three dimensional topological insulator

The magnetic field, temperature dependence and the Hall effect have been measured in order to determine the energy spectrum of the valence band in HgTe quantum wells with the width (20-200)nm. The comparison of hole densities determined from the period Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations and the Hall effect shows that states at the top of valence band are double degenerate in teh entry quantum wells width the width range. The cyclotron mass determined from temperature dependence of SdH oscillations increases monotonically from (0.2-0.3) mass of the free electron, with increasing hole density from 2e11 to 6e11 cm^-2. The determined dependence has been compared to theoretical one calculate within the four band kp model. The experimental dependence was found to be strongly inconsistent with this predictions. It has been shown that the inclusion of additional factors (electric field, strain) does not remove the contradiction between experiment and theory. Consequently it is doubtful that the mentioned kp calculations adequately describe the valence band for any width of quantum well.Comment: 7 pages 8 figure

Renormalization of the conduction band spectrum in HgTe quantum wells by electron-electron interaction

The energy spectrum of the conduction band in HgTe/Cd$_x$Hg$_{1-x}$Te quantum wells of a width $d=(4.6-20.2)$ nm has been experimentally studied in a wide range of electron density. For this purpose, the electron density dependence of the effective mass was measured by two methods: by analyzing the temperature dependence of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations and by means of the quantum capacitance measurements. There was shown that the effective mass obtained for the structures with $d<d_c$, where $d_c\simeq6.3$ nm is a critical width of quantum well corresponding to the Dirac-like energy spectrum, is close to the calculated values over the whole electron density range; with increasing width, at $d>(7-8)$ nm, the experimental effective mass becomes noticeably less than the calculated ones. This difference increases with the electron density decrease, i.e., with lowering the Fermi energy; the maximal difference between the theory and experiment is achieved at $d = (15-18)$ nm, where the ratio between the calculated and experimental masses reaches the value of two and begins to decrease with a further $d$ increase. We assume that observed behavior of the electron effective mass results from the spectrum renormalization due to electron-electron interaction.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

Gravity in a stabilized brane world model in five-dimensional Brans-Dicke theory

Linearized equations of motion for gravitational and scalar fields are found and solved in a stabilized brane world model in five-dimensional Brans-Dicke theory. The physical degrees of freedom are isolated, the mass spectrum of Kaluza-Klein excitations is found and the coupling constants of these excitations to matter on the negative tension brane are calculated.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe