3,444 research outputs found
Induced superfluidity of imbalanced Fermi gases near unitarity
The induced intraspecies interactions among the majority species, mediated by
the minority species, is computed for a population-imbalanced two-component
Fermi gas. Although the Feshbach-resonance mediated interspecies interaction is
dominant for equal populations, leading to singlet s-wave pairing, we find that
in the strongly imbalanced regime the induced intraspecies interaction leads to
p-wave pairing and superfluidity of the majority species. Thus, we predict that
the observed spin-polaron Fermi liquid state in this regime is unstable to
p-wave superfluidity, in accordance with the results of Kohn and Luttinger,
below a temperature that, near unitarity, we find to be within current
experimental capabilities. Possible experimental signatures of the p-wave state
using radio-frequency spectroscopy as well as density-density correlations
after free expansion are presented.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Identity of electrons and ionization equilibrium
It is perhaps appropriate that, in a year marking the 90th anniversary of
Meghnad Saha seminal paper (1920), new developments should call fresh attention
to the problem of ionization equilibrium in gases. Ionization equilibrium is
considered in the simplest "physical" model for an electronic subsystem of
matter in a rarefied state, consisting of one localized electronic state in
each nucleus and delocalized electronic states considered as free ones. It is
shown that, despite the qualitative agreement, there is a significant
quantitative difference from the results of applying the Saha formula to the
degree of ionization. This is caused by the fact that the Saha formula
corresponds to the "chemical" model of matter.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure
Angle-dependence of the Hall effect in HgBa2CaCu2O6 thin films
Superconducting compounds of the family Hg-Ba-Ca-Cu-O have been the subject
of intense study since the current record-holder for the highest critical
temperature of a superconductor belongs to this class of materials. Thin films
of the compound with two adjacent copper-oxide layers and a critical
temperature of about 120 K were prepared by a two-step process that consists of
the pulsed-laser deposition of precursor films and the subsequent annealing in
mercury-vapor atmosphere. Like some other high-temperature superconductors,
Hg-Ba-Ca-Cu-O exhibits a specific anomaly of the Hall effect, a double-sign
change of the Hall coefficient close to the superconducting transition. We have
investigated this phenomenon by measurements of the Hall effect at different
angles between the magnetic field direction and the crystallographic c-axis.
The results concerning the upper part of the transition, where the first sign
change occurs, are discussed in terms of the renormalized fluctuation model for
the Hall conductivity, adapted through the field rescaling procedure in order
to take into account the arbitrary orientation of the magnetic field.Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev.
High superconducting anisotropy and weak vortex pinning in Co doped LaFeAsO
Here, we present an electrical transport study in single crystals of
LaFeCoAsO ( K) under high magnetic fields. In
contrast to most of the previously reported Fe based superconductors, and
despite its relatively low , LaFeCoAsO shows a superconducting
anisotropy which is comparable to those seen for instance in the cuprates or
, where
is the effective mass anisotropy. Although, in the present case and as in all
Fe based superconductors, as . Under
the application of an external field, we also observe a remarkable broadening
of the superconducting transition particularly for fields applied along the
inter-planar direction. Both observations indicate that the low dimensionality
of LaFeCoAsO is likely to lead to a more complex vortex
phase-diagram when compared to the other Fe arsenides and consequently, to a
pronounced dissipation associated with the movement of vortices in a possible
vortex liquid phase. When compared to, for instance, F-doped compounds
pertaining to same family, we obtain rather small activation energies for the
motion of vortices. This suggests that the disorder introduced by doping
LaFeAsO with F is more effective in pinning the vortices than alloying it with
Co.Comment: 7 figures, 7 pages, Phys. Rev. B (in press
Quantum and classical resonant escapes of a strongly-driven Josephson junction
The properties of phase escape in a dc SQUID at 25 mK, which is well below
quantum-to-classical crossover temperature , in the presence of strong
resonant ac driving have been investigated. The SQUID contains two
Nb/Al-AlO/Nb tunnel junctions with Josephson inductance much larger than
the loop inductance so it can be viewed as a single junction having adjustable
critical current. We find that with increasing microwave power and at
certain frequencies and /2, the single primary peak in the
switching current distribution, \textrm{which is the result of macroscopic
quantum tunneling of the phase across the junction}, first shifts toward lower
bias current and then a resonant peak develops. These results are explained
by quantum resonant phase escape involving single and two photons with
microwave-suppressed potential barrier. As further increases, the primary
peak gradually disappears and the resonant peak grows into a single one while
shifting further to lower . At certain , a second resonant peak appears,
which can locate at very low depending on the value of . Analysis
based on the classical equation of motion shows that such resonant peak can
arise from the resonant escape of the phase particle with extremely large
oscillation amplitude resulting from bifurcation of the nonlinear system. Our
experimental result and theoretical analysis demonstrate that at ,
escape of the phase particle could be dominated by classical process, such as
dynamical bifurcation of nonlinear systems under strong ac driving.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl
Thermodynamics of a d-wave Superconductor Near a Surface
We study the properties of an anisotropically paired superconductor in the
presence of a specularly reflecting surface. The bulk stable phase of the
superconducting order parameter is taken to have symmetry.
Contributions by order parameter components of different symmetries vanish in
the bulk, but may enter in the vicinity of a wall. We calculate the
self-consistent order parameter and surface free energy within the
quasiclassical formulation of superconductivity. We discuss, in particular, the
dependence of these quantities on the degree of order parameter mixing and the
surface to lattice orientation. Knowledge of the thermodynamically stable order
parameter near a surface is a necessary precondition for calculating measurable
surface properties which we present in a companion paper.Comment: 12 pages of revtex text with 12 compressed and encoded figures. To
appear in J. Low Temp. Phys., December, 199
Competition of Spin-Fluctuations and Phonons in Superconductivity of ZrZn2
It has been long suspected that spin fluctuations in the weak itinerant
ferromagnet ZrZn2 may lead to a triplet superconductivity in this material.
Here we point out another possibility, a spatially inhomogeneous singlet
superconducting state (a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state). We report
detailed electronic structure calculations, as well as calculations of the zone
center phonons and their coupling with electrons. We find that the exchange
splitting is nonuniform and may allow for gap formation at some parts of the
Fermi surface. We also find that there is substantial coupling of Zr rattling
modes with electrons, which can, in principle, provide the necessary pairing in
the s-channel.Comment: 4 pages, embedded color postscript figures. JPEG versions available
from the author
Fate of the Peak Effect in a Type-II Superconductor: Multicriticality in the Bragg-Glass Transition
We have used small-angle-neutron-scattering (SANS) and ac magnetic
susceptibility to investigate the global magnetic field H vs temperature T
phase diagram of a single crystal Nb in which a first-order transition of
Bragg-glass melting (disordering), a peak effect, and surface superconductivity
are all observable. It was found that the disappearance of the peak effect is
directly related to a multicritical behavior in the Bragg-glass transition.
Four characteristic phase boundary lines have been identified on the H-T plane:
a first-order line at high fields, a mean-field-like continuous transition line
at low fields, and two continuous transition line associated with the onset of
surface and bulk superconductivity. All four lines are found to meet at a
multicritical point.Comment: 4 figure
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