Bottom-loading dilution refrigerator with ultra-high vacuum deposition capability

A Kelvinox 400 dilution refrigerator with the ability to load samples onto the mixing chamber from the bottom of the cryostat has been combined with an ultrahigh-vacuum (UHV) deposition chamber equipped with molecular beam sources. The liquid helium cooled sample transfer mechanism is used in a manner that allows films to be grown on substrates which are kept at temperatures of order 8K with chamber pressures in the 10^-9 to 10^-10 Torr range. This system facilitates the growth of quench-condensed ultrathin films which must always be kept below ~ 12K in a UHV environment during and after growth. Measurements can be made on the films down to millikelvin temperatures and in magnetic fields up to 15 T.Comment: 10 pages text, 1figur

Observation of Magnetic Flux Generated Spontaneously During a Rapid Quench of Superconducting Films

We report observations of spontaneous formation of magnetic flux lines during a rapid quench of YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-\delta}$ films through T$_{c}$. This effect is predicted according to the Kibble-Zurek mechanism of creation of topological defects of the order parameter during a symmetry-breaking phase transition. Our previous experiment, at a quench rate of 20K/sec, gave null results. In the present experiment, the quench rate was increased to \TEXTsymbol{>} 10$^{8}$ K/sec. Within experimental resolution, the dependence of the measured flux on the cooling rate is consistent with the prediction

Thermopower oscillations in mesoscopic Andreev interferometers

Anomalously large thermopower of mesoscopic normal-metal/superconductor interferometers has been investigated by Chandrasekhar et al. It was shown that, depending on the geometry of the interferometer, the thermopower is either symmetric or antisymmetric periodic function of the magnetic flux. We develop a detailed theory of the observed thermoelectric phenomena in the framework of the non-equilibrium quasiclassical approach. In particular we provide, for the first time, a possible explanation of the symmetric thermopower oscillations. This effect is attributed to the electron-hole symmetry violation that originates in the steady-state charge imbalance between different arms of the interferometer. Our theory can be tested by an additional control over the charge imbalance in a modified setup geometry. We also predict a sign reversal behavior of the thermopower with increasing temperature that is consistent with the experiments by Parsons et al.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, final versio

Probing the field-induced variation of the chemical potential in Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(y) via the magneto-thermopower measurements

Approximating the shape of the measured in $Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_y$ magneto-thermopower (TEP) $\Delta S(T,H)$ by asymmetric linear triangle of the form $\Delta S(T,H)\simeq S_p(H)\pm B^{\pm}(H)(T_c-T)$ with positive $B ^{-}(H)$ and $B ^{+}(H)$ defined below and above $T_c$, we observe that $B ^{+}(H)\simeq 2B ^{-}(H)$. In order to account for this asymmetry, we explicitly introduce the field-dependent chemical potential of holes $\mu (H)$ into the Ginzburg-Landau theory and calculate both an average $\Delta S_{av}(T,H)$ and fluctuation $\Delta S_{fl}(T,H)$ contributions to the total magneto-TEP $\Delta S(T,H)$. As a result, we find a rather simple relationship between the field-induced variation of the chemical potential in this material and the above-mentioned magneto-TEP data around $T_c$, viz. $\Delta \mu (H)\propto S_p(H)$.Comment: REVTEX (epsf), 4 pages, 2 PS figures; to be published in JET

High-Field Quasiparticle Tunneling in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8+delta: Negative Magnetoresistance in the Superconducting State

We report on the c-axis resistivity rho_c(H) in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta} that peaks in quasi-static magnetic fields up to 60 T. By suppressing the Josephson part of the two-channel (Cooper pair/quasiparticle) conductivity \sigma_c (H), we find that the negative slope of \rho_c(H) above the peak is due to quasiparticle tunneling conductivity \sigma_q(H) across the CuO_2 layers below H_{c2}. At high fields (a) \sigma_q(H) grows linearly with H, and (b) \rho_c(T) tends to saturate (sigma_c \neq 0) as T->0, consistent with the scattering at the nodes of the d-gap. A superlinear sigma_q(H) marks the normal state above T_c.Comment: 4p., 5 fig. (.eps), will be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Interlayer Quasiparticle Transport in the Vortex State of Josephson Coupled Superconductors

We calculate the dependence of the interlayer quasiparticle conductivity, $\sigma_q$, in a Josephson coupled d-wave superconductor on the magnetic field B||c and the temperature T. We consider a clean superconductor with resonant impurity scattering and a dominant coherent interlayer tunneling. When pancake vortices in adjacent layers are weakly correlated at low T the conductivity increases sharply with B before reaching an extended region of slow linear growth, while at high T it initially decreases and then reaches the same linear regime. For correlated pancakes $\sigma_q$ increases much more strongly with the applied field.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Feshbach resonances and mesoscopic phase separation near a quantum critical point in multiband FeAs-based superconductors

High Tc superconductivity in FeAs-based multilayers (pnictides), evading temperature decoherence effects in a quantum condensate, is assigned to a Feshbach resonance (called also shape resonance) in the exchange-like interband pairing. The resonance is switched on by tuning the chemical potential at an electronic topological transition (ETT) near a band edge, where the Fermi surface topology of one of the subbands changes from 1D to 2D topology. We show that the tuning is realized by changing i) the misfit strain between the superconducting planes and the spacers ii) the charge density and iii) the disorder. The system is at the verge of a catastrophe i.e. near a structural and magnetic phase transition associated with the stripes (analogous to the 1/8 stripe phase in cuprates) order to disorder phase transition. Fine tuning of both the chemical potential and the disorder pushes the critical temperature Ts of this phase transition to zero giving a quantum critical point. Here the quantum lattice and magnetic fluctuations promote the Feshbach resonance of the exchange-like anisotropic pairing. This superconducting phase that resists to the attacks of temperature is shown to be controlled by the interplay of the hopping energy between stripes and the quantum fluctuations. The superconducting gaps in the multiple Fermi surface spots reported by the recent ARPES experiment of D. V. Evtushinsky et al. arXiv:0809.4455 are shown to support the Feshbach scenario.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure

The Flux-Line Lattice in Superconductors

Magnetic flux can penetrate a type-II superconductor in form of Abrikosov vortices. These tend to arrange in a triangular flux-line lattice (FLL) which is more or less perturbed by material inhomogeneities that pin the flux lines, and in high-$T_c$ supercon- ductors (HTSC's) also by thermal fluctuations. Many properties of the FLL are well described by the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory or by the electromagnetic London theory, which treats the vortex core as a singularity. In Nb alloys and HTSC's the FLL is very soft mainly because of the large magnetic penetration depth: The shear modulus of the FLL is thus small and the tilt modulus is dispersive and becomes very small for short distortion wavelength. This softness of the FLL is enhanced further by the pronounced anisotropy and layered structure of HTSC's, which strongly increases the penetration depth for currents along the c-axis of these uniaxial crystals and may even cause a decoupling of two-dimensional vortex lattices in the Cu-O layers. Thermal fluctuations and softening may melt the FLL and cause thermally activated depinning of the flux lines or of the 2D pancake vortices in the layers. Various phase transitions are predicted for the FLL in layered HTSC's. The linear and nonlinear magnetic response of HTSC's gives rise to interesting effects which strongly depend on the geometry of the experiment.Comment: Review paper for Rep.Prog.Phys., 124 narrow pages. The 30 figures do not exist as postscript file

The peak in the thermal conductivity of Cu-O superconductors: Electronic or phononic origin?

The thermal conductivity К of hole-doped Cu-O plane high- T c perovskites exhibits a dramatic increase below T c which results in a pronounced peak near T c /2. The origin of this peak was initially thought to arise from an enhancement in the mean-free path of phonons as the charge carriers undergo condensation. Indeed, excellent fits to the data can be obtained with physically reasonable parameters using the conventional theory of lattice conduction in superconductors. In contrast, a recently observed sharp decrease in the quasiparticle scattering rate of YBCO single crystals below T c has motivated proposals for an electronic origin of the thermal conductivity peak. We shall critically examine experimental evidence and highlight relative advantages and shortcomings of the two contrasting interpretations. Furthermore, we shall draw attention to recently available data on the relaxation time of out-of-equilibrium carriers in Cu-O superconductors obtained using pump-probe femtosecond laser studies and what new light they shed on the controversy.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45122/1/10948_2004_Article_BF00724562.pd