Incommensurate dynamics of resonant breathers in Josephson junction ladders

We present theoretical and experimental studies of resonant localized resistive states in a Josephson junction ladder. These complex breather states are obtained by tuning the breather frequency into the upper band of linear electromagnetic oscillations of the ladder. Their prominent feature is the appearance of resonant steps in the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. We have found the resonant breather-like states displaying incommensurate dynamics. Numerical simulations show that these incommensurate resonant breathers persist for very low values of damping. Qualitatively similar incommensurate breather states are observed in experiments performed with Nb-based Josephson ladders. We explain the appearance of these states with the help of resonance-induced hysteresis features in the I-V dependence.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Plasmon Evolution and Charge-Density Wave Suppression in Potassium Intercalated Tantalum Diselenide

We have investigated the influence of potassium intercalation on the formation of the charge-density wave (CDW) instability in 2H-tantalum diselenide by means of Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy and density functional theory. Our observations are consistent with a filling of the conduction band as indicated by a substantial decrease of the plasma frequency in experiment and theory. In addition, elastic scattering clearly points to a destruction of the CDW upon intercalation as can be seen by a vanishing of the corresponding superstructures. This is accompanied by a new superstructure, which can be attributed to the intercalated potassium. Based on the behavior of the c-axis upon intercalation we argue in favor of interlayer-sites for the alkali-metal and that the lattice remains in the 2H-modification

Control of unstable steady states by time-delayed feedback methods

We show that time-delayed feedback methods, which have successfully been used to control unstable periodic ortbits, provide a tool to stabilize unstable steady states. We present an analytical investigation of the feedback scheme using the Lambert function and discuss effects of both a low-pass filter included in the control loop and non-zero latency times associated with the generation and injection of the feedback signal.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure

Parametric Feedback Resonance in Chaotic Systems

If one changes the control parameter of a chaotic system proportionally to the distance between an arbitrary point on the strange attractor and the actual trajectory, the lifetime τ of the most stable unstable periodic orbit in the vicinity of this point starts to diverge with a power law. The volume in parameter space where τ becomes infinite is finite and from its nonfractal boundaries one can determine directly the local Liapunov exponents. The experimental applicability of the method is demonstrated for two coupled diode resonators

Do columnar defects produce bulk pinning?

From magneto-optical imaging performed on heavy-ion irradiated YBaCuO single crystals, it is found that at fields and temperatures where strong single vortex pinning by individual irradiation-induced amorphous columnar defects is to be expected, vortex motion is limited by the nucleation of vortex kinks at the specimen surface rather than by half-loop nucleation in the bulk. In the material bulk, vortex motion occurs through (easy) kink sliding. Depinning in the bulk determines the screening current only at fields comparable to or larger than the matching field, at which the majority of moving vortices is not trapped by an ion track.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Sierpinski signal generates 1/fα1/f^\alpha spectra

We investigate the row sum of the binary pattern generated by the Sierpinski automaton: Interpreted as a time series we calculate the power spectrum of this Sierpinski signal analytically and obtain a unique rugged fine structure with underlying power law decay with an exponent of approximately 1.15. Despite the simplicity of the model, it can serve as a model for $1/f^\alpha$ spectra in a certain class of experimental and natural systems like catalytic reactions and mollusc patterns.Comment: 4 pages (4 figs included). Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Bifurcations and Chaos in Time Delayed Piecewise Linear Dynamical Systems

We reinvestigate the dynamical behavior of a first order scalar nonlinear delay differential equation with piecewise linearity and identify several interesting features in the nature of bifurcations and chaos associated with it as a function of the delay time and external forcing parameters. In particular, we point out that the fixed point solution exhibits a stability island in the two parameter space of time delay and strength of nonlinearity. Significant role played by transients in attaining steady state solutions is pointed out. Various routes to chaos and existence of hyperchaos even for low values of time delay which is evidenced by multiple positive Lyapunov exponents are brought out. The study is extended to the case of two coupled systems, one with delay and the other one without delay.Comment: 34 Pages, 14 Figure

Dephasing due to Which Path Detector

We study dephasing of electrons induced by a which path detector and thus verify Bohr's complementarity principle for fermions. We utilize a double path interferometer with two slits, with one slit being replaced by a coherent quantum dot (QD). A short one dimensional channel, in the form of a quantum point contact (QPC), in close proximity to the QD, serves as a which path detector. We find that by varying the properties of the QPC detector we affect the visibility of the interference, inducing thus dephasing. We develop a simple model to explain the dephasing due to the nearby detector and find good agreement with the experiment.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure