GHz sandwich strip inductors based on Fe-N Films

Planar strip inductors consisting of two Fe-N films enclosing a conducting film made of Cu, were fabricated on oxidized Si substrates. The inductors were 1mm long, 2 to 100 um wide, with layers of thickness ~0.1 um for the magnetic films and ~0.5 um for the conductor. The soft (Hc=4-8 Oe) magnetic layers were biased during impedance measurement by applying an external field along the strip length thereby facilitating the transverse susceptibility configuration. Biased strips exhibited 70 to 100% inductance enhancement at 1GHz with quality factors Q=4.5 to 3, respectively. The magnetic contribution to the total flux in the narrow devices was less than predicted theoretically, which was attributed to hardening of the magnetic material at the edges of the strip, where the deposition was close to 60 degree incidence. Test films were fabricated on tilted substrates and found to develop a very high anisotropy (up to 1 kOe) for deposition angles larger than 30 degrees. Optimizing the flux closure at the strip edges and using thicker conductor layers is essential for further improving the performance of sandwich strip inductors.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Fast switching current detection at low critical currents

A pulse-and-hold technique is used to measure the switching of small critical current Josephson junctions. This technique allows one to achieve a good binary detection and therefore measure switching probabilities. The technique overcomes limitations on simple square pulses and allows for the measurement of junctions with critical currents of the order of 10nA with bias pulses of the order of 100ns. A correlation analysis of the switching events is performed to show how the switching probability depends on the wait time between repeated bias pulses.Comment: Changed abstract Added reference 1

Large space structure damping design

Several FORTRAN subroutines and programs were developed which compute complex eigenvalues of a damped system using different approaches, and which rescale mode shapes to unit generalized mass and make rigid bodies orthogonal to each other. An analytical proof of a Minimum Constrained Frequency Criterion (MCFC) for a single damper is presented. A method to minimize the effect of control spill-over for large space structures is proposed. The characteristic equation of an undamped system with a generalized control law is derived using reanalysis theory. This equation can be implemented in computer programs for efficient eigenvalue analysis or control quasi synthesis. Methods to control vibrations in large space structure are reviewed and analyzed. The resulting prototype, using electromagnetic actuator, is described

Coulomb Blockade and Coherent Single-Cooper-Pair Tunneling in Single Josephson Junctions

We have measured the current-voltage characteristics of small-capacitance single Josephson junctions at low temperatures (T < 0.04 K), where the strength of the coupling between the single junction and the electromagnetic environment was controlled with one-dimensional arrays of dc SQUIDs. We have clearly observed Coulomb blockade of Cooper-pair tunneling and even a region of negative differential resistance, when the zero-bias resistance of the SQUID arrays is much higher than the quantum resistance h/e^2 = 26 kohm. The negative differential resistance is evidence of coherent single-Cooper-pair tunneling in the single Josephson junction.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages with 6 embedded figure

Why are faculty wary of assessment?

Explanations for faculty hesitancy may be practical or principled, based on experience or hearsay, emerge from more general concerns about change, or be related to assessment in particular. Ultimately the reasons fall into four main categories: worries about the new work assessment presents, a “culture gap” in the way assessment is presented, poor word of mouth about assessment systems, and concerns about academic freedom

Two-dimensional arrays of low capacitance tunnel junctions: general properties, phase transitions and Hall effect

We describe transport properties of two-dimensional arrays of low capacitance tunnel junctions, such as the current voltage characteristic and its dependence on external magnetic field and temperature. We discuss several experiments in which the small capacitance of the junctions plays an important role. In arrays where the junctions have a relatively large charging energy, (i.e. when they have a low capacitance) and a high normal state resistance, the low bias resistance increases with decreasing temperature and eventually at very low temperature the array becomes insulating even though the electrodes in the array are superconducting. This transition to the insulating state can be described by thermal activation. In an intermediate region where the junction resistance is of the order of the quantum resistance and the charging energy is of the order of the Josephson coupling energy, the arrays can be tuned between a superconducting and an insulating state with a magnetic field. We describe measurements of this magnetic-field-tuned superconductor insulator transition, and we show that the resistance data can be scaled over several orders of magnitude. Four arrays follow the same universal function. At the transition the transverse (Hall) resistance is found to be very small in comparison with the longitudinal resistance. However, for magnetic field values larger than the critical value.we observe a substantial Hall resistance. The Hall resistance of these arrays oscillates with the applied magnetic field. features in the magnetic field dependence of the Hall resistance can qualitatively be correlated to features in the derivative of the longitudinal resistance, similar to what is found in the quantum Hall effect.Comment: 29 pages, 16 eps figures, uses aipproc.sty and epsfig.sty, contribution to Euroschool on "Superconductivity in Networks and Mesoscopic Systems", held in Siena, Italy (8-20 september 1997

Spin flip scattering at Al surfaces

Non-local measurements are performed on a multi terminal device to $in-situ$ determine the spin diffusion length and in combination with resistivity measurements also the spin relaxation time in Al films. By varying the thickness of Al we determine the contribution to spin relaxation from surface scattering. From the temperature dependence of the spin diffusion length it is established that the spin relaxation is impurity dominated at low temperature. A comparison of the spin and momentum relaxation lengths for different thicknesses reveals that the spin flip scattering at the surfaces is weak compared to that within the bulk of the Al films.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Enhanced spin accumulation in a superconductor

A lateral array of ferromagnetic tunnel junctions is used to inject and detect non-equilibrium quasi-particle spin distribution in a superconducting strip made of Al. The strip width and thickness is kept below the quasi particle spin diffusion length in Al. Non-local measurements in multiple parallel and antiparallel magnetic states of the detectors are used to in-situ determine the quasi-particle spin diffusion length. A very large increase in the spin accumulation in the superconducting state compared to that in the normal state is observed and is attributed to a diminishing of the quasi-particle population by opening of the gap below the transition temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Physic