Collapse of superconductivity in a hybrid tin-graphene Josephson junction array

When a Josephson junction array is built with hybrid superconductor/metal/superconductor junctions, a quantum phase transition from a superconducting to a two-dimensional (2D) metallic ground state is predicted to happen upon increasing the junction normal state resistance. Owing to its surface-exposed 2D electron gas and its gate-tunable charge carrier density, graphene coupled to superconductors is the ideal platform to study the above-mentioned transition between ground states. Here we show that decorating graphene with a sparse and regular array of superconducting nanodisks enables to continuously gate-tune the quantum superconductor-to-metal transition of the Josephson junction array into a zero-temperature metallic state. The suppression of proximity-induced superconductivity is a direct consequence of the emergence of quantum fluctuations of the superconducting phase of the disks. Under perpendicular magnetic field, the competition between quantum fluctuations and disorder is responsible for the resilience at the lowest temperatures of a superconducting glassy state that persists above the upper critical field. Our results provide the entire phase diagram of the disorder and magnetic field-tuned transition and unveil the fundamental impact of quantum phase fluctuations in 2D superconducting systems.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

Revealing the electronic structure of a carbon nanotube carrying a supercurrent

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are not intrinsically superconducting but they can carry a supercurrent when connected to superconducting electrodes. This supercurrent is mainly transmitted by discrete entangled electron-hole states confined to the nanotube, called Andreev Bound States (ABS). These states are a key concept in mesoscopic superconductivity as they provide a universal description of Josephson-like effects in quantum-coherent nanostructures (e.g. molecules, nanowires, magnetic or normal metallic layers) connected to superconducting leads. We report here the first tunneling spectroscopy of individually resolved ABS, in a nanotube-superconductor device. Analyzing the evolution of the ABS spectrum with a gate voltage, we show that the ABS arise from the discrete electronic levels of the molecule and that they reveal detailed information about the energies of these levels, their relative spin orientation and the coupling to the leads. Such measurements hence constitute a powerful new spectroscopic technique capable of elucidating the electronic structure of CNT-based devices, including those with well-coupled leads. This is relevant for conventional applications (e.g. superconducting or normal transistors, SQUIDs) and quantum information processing (e.g. entangled electron pairs generation, ABS-based qubits). Finally, our device is a new type of dc-measurable SQUID

Identification of ejaculated proteins in the house mouse (Mus domesticus) via isotopic labeling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Seminal fluid plays an important role in successful fertilization, but knowledge of the full suite of proteins transferred from males to females during copulation is incomplete. The list of ejaculated proteins remains particularly scant in one of the best-studied mammalian systems, the house mouse (<it>Mus domesticus</it>), where artificial ejaculation techniques have proven inadequate. Here we investigate an alternative method for identifying ejaculated proteins, by isotopically labeling females with ¹⁵N and then mating them to unlabeled, vasectomized males. Proteins were then isolated from mated females and identified using mass spectrometry. In addition to gaining insights into possible functions and fates of ejaculated proteins, our study serves as proof of concept that isotopic labeling is a powerful means to study reproductive proteins.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified 69 male-derived proteins from the female reproductive tract following copulation. More than a third of all spectra detected mapped to just seven genes known to be structurally important in the formation of the copulatory plug, a hard coagulum that forms shortly after mating. Seminal fluid is significantly enriched for proteins that function in protection from oxidative stress and endopeptidase inhibition. Females, on the other hand, produce endopeptidases in response to mating. The 69 ejaculated proteins evolve significantly more rapidly than other proteins that we previously identified directly from dissection of the male reproductive tract.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study attempts to comprehensively identify the proteins transferred from males to females during mating, expanding the application of isotopic labeling to mammalian reproductive genomics. This technique opens the way to the targeted monitoring of the fate of ejaculated proteins as they incubate in the female reproductive tract.</p