Nanopattern-stimulated superconductor-insulator transition in thin TiN films

We present the results of the comparative study of the influence of disorder on transport properties in continuous and nanoperforated TiN films. We show that nanopatterning turns a thin TiN film into an array of superconducting weak links and stimulates both, the disorder- and magnetic field-driven superconductor-to-insulator transitions, pushing them to lower degree of disorder. We find that nanopatterning enhances the role of the two-dimensional Coulomb interaction in the system transforming the originally insulating film into a more pronounced insulator. We observe magnetoresistance oscillations reflecting collective behaviour of the multiconnected nanopatterned superconducting film in the wide range of temperatures and uncover the physical mechanism of these oscillations as phase slips in superconducting weak link network.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

The study of second harmonic generation of the femtosecond laser pulses with a 950 nm central wavelength

The paper presents the results of theoretical and experimental studies of the second harmonic generation process in the Ti:sapphire femtosecond complex, which includes a generator of the femtosecond pulse, stretcher, regenerative amplifier, two multi-pass amplifiers, compressor and second-harmonic generator. This complex provides the 50-fs pulses with energy of 20 mJ and it is used as a master oscillator in THL-100 hybrid laser system, which operates in the visible region at a wavelength of 475 nm. Experiments and calculations for various beam parameters of the fundamental harmonic, such as radiation intensity, spatial profile of the beam and the level of the noise component were performed. It is theoretically shown that in the absence of the noise component in the beam of the fundamental wave a good uniformity of the second harmonic should be observed. When making the amplitude heterogeneities in the first harmonic even greater heterogeneities in the second harmonic are appeared. It is experimentally shown that with increasing of energy beam the inhomogeneity of the second harmonic beam increases

Nonlocal stabilization of nonlinear beams in a self-focusing atomic vapor

We show that ballistic transport of optically excited atoms in an atomic vapor provides a nonlocal nonlinearity which stabilizes the propagation of vortex beams and higher order modes in the presence of a self-focusing nonlinearity. Numerical experiments demonstrate stable propagation of lowest and higher order vortices over a hundred diffraction lengths, before dissipation leads to decay of these structures.Comment: 3 figure

M-Theory of Matrix Models

Small M-theories unify various models of a given family in the same way as the M-theory unifies a variety of superstring models. We consider this idea in application to the family of eigenvalue matrix models: their M-theory unifies various branches of Hermitean matrix model (including Dijkgraaf-Vafa partition functions) with Kontsevich tau-function. Moreover, the corresponding duality relations look like direct analogues of instanton and meron decompositions, familiar from Yang-Mills theory.Comment: 12 pages, contribution to the Proceedings of the Workshop "Classical and Quantum Integrable Systems", Protvino, Russia, January, 200

Large Magnetoresistance of a Dilute pp-Si/SiGe/Si Quantum Well in a Parallel Magnetic Field

We report the results of an experimental study of the magnetoresistance $\rho_{xx}$ in two samples of $p$-Si/SiGe/Si with low carrier concentrations $p$=8.2$\times10^{10}$ cm$^{-2}$ and $p$=2$\times10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$. The research was performed in the temperature range of 0.3-2 K in the magnetic fields of up to 18 T, parallel to the two-dimensional (2D) channel plane at two orientations of the in-plane magnetic field $B_{\parallel}$ against the current $I$: $B_{\parallel} \perp I$ and $B_{\parallel} \parallel I$. In the sample with the lowest density in the magnetic field range of 0-7.2 T the temperature dependence of $\rho_{xx}$ demonstrates the metallic characteristics ($d \rho_{xx}/dT>$0). However, at $B_{\parallel}$ =7.2 T the derivative $d \rho_{xx}/dT$ reverses the sign. Moreover, the resistance depends on the current orientation with respect to the in-plane magnetic field. At $B_{\parallel} \cong$ 13 T there is a transition from the dependence $\ln(\Delta\rho_{xx} / \rho_{0})\propto B_{\parallel}^2$ to the dependence $\ln(\Delta\rho_{xx} / \rho_{0})\propto B_{\parallel}$. The observed effects can be explained by the influence of the in-plane magnetic field on the orbital motion of the charge carriers in the quasi-2D system.Comment: revised: included AC conductivity experiments to study the role of localized state in transport; total 6 pages, 7 figures. Accepted PRB; to appear vol.79, Issue 2

Vanishing Meissner effect as a hallmark of in-plane FFLO instability in superconductor - ferromagnet layered systems

We demonstrate that in a wide class of multilayered superconductor - ferromagnet structures (e.g., S/F, S/F/N and S/F/F') the vanishing Meissner effect signals the appearance of the in-plane Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) modulated superconducting phase. In contrast to the bulk superconductors the FFLO instability in these systems can emerge at temperatures close to the critical one and is effectively controlled by the S layer thickness and the angle between magnetization vectors in the F/F' bilayers. The predicted FFLO state reveals through the critical temperature oscillations vs the perpendicular magnetic field component.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

On 3d extensions of AGT relation

An extension of the AGT relation from two to three dimensions begins from connecting the theory on domain wall between some two S-dual SYM models with the 3d Chern-Simons theory. The simplest kind of such a relation would presumably connect traces of the modular kernels in 2d conformal theory with knot invariants. Indeed, the both quantities are very similar, especially if represented as integrals of the products of quantum dilogarithm functions. However, there are also various differences, especially in the "conservation laws" for integration variables, which hold for the monodromy traces, but not for the knot invariants. We also discuss another possibility: interpretation of knot invariants as solutions to the Baxter equations for the relativistic Toda system. This implies another AGT like relation: between 3d Chern-Simons theory and the Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit of the 5d SYM.Comment: 23 page