1,138 research outputs found
Singularities of the renormalization group flow for random elastic manifolds
We consider the singularities of the zero temperature renormalization group
flow for random elastic manifolds. When starting from small scales, this flow
goes through two particular points and , where the average value
of the random squared potential turnes negative ($l^{*}$) and where
the fourth derivative of the potential correlator becomes infinite at the
origin ($l_{c}$). The latter point sets the scale where simple perturbation
theory breaks down as a consequence of the competition between many metastable
states. We show that under physically well defined circumstances $l_{c} to negative values does not
take place.Comment: RevTeX, 3 page
Weak- to strong pinning crossover
Material defects in hard type II superconductors pin the flux lines and thus
establish the dissipation-free current transport in the presence of a finite
magnetic field. Depending on the density and pinning force of the defects and
the vortex density, pinning is either weak-collective or strong. We analyze the
weak- to strong pinning crossover of vortex matter in disordered
superconductors and discuss the peak effect appearing naturally in this
context.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Characteristics of First-Order Vortex Lattice Melting: Jumps in Entropy and Magnetization
We derive expressions for the jumps in entropy and magnetization
characterizing the first-order melting transition of a flux line lattice. In
our analysis we account for the temperature dependence of the Landau parameters
and make use of the proper shape of the melting line as determined by the
relative importance of electromagnetic and Josephson interactions. The results
agree well with experiments on anisotropic YBaCuO and
layered BiSrCaCuO materials and reaffirm the validity of
the London model.Comment: 4 pages. We have restructured the paper to emphasize that in the
London scaling regime (appropriate for YBCO) our results are essentially
exact. We have also emphasized that a major controversy over the relevance of
the London model to describe VL melting has been settled by this wor
Zeeman and Orbital Limiting Fields: Separated Spin and Charge Degrees of Freedom in Cuprate Superconductors
Recent in-plane thermal (Nernst) and interlayer (tunnelling) transport
experiments in BiSrCaCuO high temperature superconductors
report hugely different limiting magnetic fields. Based on pairing (and the
uncertainty principle) combined with the definitions of the Zeeman energy and
the magnetic length, we show that in the underdoped regime both fields convert
to the same (normal state) pseudogap energy scale upon transformation as
orbital and spin (Zeeman) critical fields, respectively. We reconcile these
seemingly disparate findings invoking separated spin and charge degrees of
freedom residing in different regions of a truncated Fermi surface.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B (Rapid
Comm.
Angular dependence of the magnetization of isotropic superconductors: which is the vortex direction?
We present studies of the dc magnetization of thin platelike samples of the
isotropic type II superconductor PbTl(10%), as a function of the angle between
the normal to the sample and the applied magnetic field . We determine
the magnetization vector by measuring the components both parallel
and normal to in a SQUID magnetometer, and we further decompose it in
its reversible and irreversible contributions. The behavior of the reversible
magnetization is well understood in terms of minimization of the free energy
taking into account geometrical effects. In the mixed state at low fields, the
dominant effect is the line energy gained by shortening the vortices, thus the
flux lines are almost normal to the sample surface. Due to the geometrical
constrain, the irreversible magnetization remains locked to the
sample normal over a wide range of fields and orientations, as already known.
We show that in order to undestand the angle and field dependence of the
modulus of , which is a measure of the vortex pinning, and to
correctly extract the field dependent critical current density, the knowledge
of the modulus and orientation of the induction field is required.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Interaction of vortices in superconductors with kappa close to 2^(-1/2)
Using a perturbative approach to the infinitely degenerate Bogomolnyi vortex
state for a superconductor with kappa = 2^(-1/2), T -> T_c, we calculate the
interaction of vortices in a superconductor with kappa close to 2^(-1/2). We
find, numerically and analytically, that depending on the material the
interaction potential between the vortices varies with decreasing kappa from
purely repulsive (as in a type-II superconductor) to purely attractive (as in a
type-I superconductor) in two different ways: either vortices form a bound
state and the distance between them changes gradually from infinity to zero, or
this transition occurs in a discontinuous way as a result of a competition
between minima at infinity and zero. We study the discontinuous transition
between the vortex and Meissner states caused by the non-monotonous vortex
interaction and calculate the corresponding magnetization jump.Comment: v1:original submit v2:changed formate of images (gave problems to
some) v3:corrected fig v4v6 (was -v4v6) orthographic corrections (and
U_lat/int) mismatch v4:more small orthographic corrections v5:converted to
revtex4 and bibTex v6:Renamed images to submit to pr
Engineering exotic phases for topologically-protected quantum computation by emulating quantum dimer models
We use a nonperturbative extended contractor renormalization (ENCORE) method
for engineering quantum devices for the implementation of topologically
protected quantum bits described by an effective quantum dimer model on the
triangular lattice. By tuning the couplings of the device, topological
protection might be achieved if the ratio between effective two-dimer
interactions and flip amplitudes lies in the liquid phase of the phase diagram
of the quantum dimer model. For a proposal based on a quantum Josephson
junction array [L. B. Ioffe {\it et al.}, Nature (London) {\bf 415}, 503
(2002)] our results show that optimal operational temperatures below 1 mK can
only be obtained if extra interactions and dimer flips, which are not present
in the standard quantum dimer model and involve three or four dimers, are
included. It is unclear if these extra terms in the quantum dimer Hamiltonian
destroy the liquid phase needed for quantum computation. Minimizing the effects
of multi-dimer terms would require energy scales in the nano-Kelvin regime. An
alternative implementation based on cold atomic or molecular gases loaded into
optical lattices is also discussed, and it is shown that the small energy
scales involved--implying long operational times--make such a device
impractical. Given the many orders of magnitude between bare couplings in
devices, and the topological gap, the realization of topological phases in
quantum devices requires careful engineering and large bare interaction scales.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure
Thermal Suppression of Strong Pinning
We study vortex pinning in layered type-II superconductors in the presence of
uncorrelated disorder for decoupled layers. Introducing the new concept of
variable-range thermal smoothing, we describe the interplay between strong
pinning and thermal fluctuations. We discuss the appearance and analyze the
evolution in temperature of two distinct non-linear features in the
current-voltage characteristics. We show how the combination of layering and
electromagnetic interactions leads to a sharp jump in the critical current for
the onset of glassy response as a function of temperature.Comment: LaTeX 2.09, 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Scattering matrix approach to interacting electron transport
We investigate the modification in mesoscopic electronic transport due to
electron-electron interactions making use of scattering states. We demonstrate
that for a specific (finite range) interaction kernel, the knowledge of the
scattering matrix is sufficient to take interaction effects into account. We
calculate perturbatively the corrections to the current and current-current
correlator; in agreement with previous work, we find that, in linear response,
interaction effects can be accounted for by an effective (renormalized)
transmission probability. Beyond linear response, simple renormalization of
scattering coefficients is not sufficient to describe the current-current
correlator, as additional corrections arise due to irreducible two-particle
processes. Furthermore, we find that the correlations between opposite-spin
currents induced by interaction are enhanced for an asymmetric scatterer,
generating a nonzero result already to lowest order in the interaction
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