Superconducting ''transistor'' acts as high-speed switch

Cryogenic, three-terminal device yields current-voltage characteristics of ordinary transistor. Device consists of two superconducting tin rods in a crossed-wire geometry, separated by a thin gold film. New construction technique is described and possible applications are discussed

Proximity effect between superconductivity and normal metals

The SNS junctions were limited to having gold (n) layers of less than 3000 A in order to avoid having the tin (S) films become normal under the influence of the signal current in the gold. The gold layer was alloyed with 10 wt% copper to shorten its electronic mean free path, increasing the tin layer critical current while decreasing the Josephson critical current. It was also found that a previously reported anomalous voltage shift in the presence of I2 is caused by the tin being driven normal. After deposition, the samples were transferred to a conventional cryostat to provide better thermal contact to the films. This reduction of heating in the films produced more linear I-V characteristics and a change in the constant voltage current gain. In order to achieve power gain the SNS device must be operated at lower temperatures were the effects of fluctuations are less and be constructed such that the input resistance is much reduced and the dynamic output resistance increased. A geometry is proposed using a more sophisticated evaporator

An investigation of the SNS Josephson junction as a three-terminal device

A particular phenomenon of the SNS Josephson junction was investigated; i.e., control by a current entering the normal region and leaving through one of the superconducting regions. The effect of the control current on the junction was found to be dependent upon the ration of the resistances of the two halves of the N layer. A low frequency, lumped, nonlinear model was proposed to describe the electrical characteristics of the device, and a method was developed to plot the dynamic junction resistance as a function of junction current. The effective thermal noise temperature of the sample was determined. Small signal linearized analysis of the device suggests its use as an impedance transformer, although geometric limitations must be overcome. Linear approximation indicates that it is reciprocal and no power gain is possible. It is felt that, with suitable metallurgical and geometrical improvements, the device has promise to become a superconducting transistor

Two-loop RGE of a general renormalizable Yang-Mills theory in a renormalization scheme with an explicit UV cutoff

We perform a systematic one-loop renormalization of a general renormalizable Yang-Mills theory coupled to scalars and fermions using a regularization scheme with a smooth momentum cutoff $\Lambda$ (implemented through an exponential damping factor). We construct the necessary finite counterterms restoring the BRST invariance of the effective action by analyzing the relevant Slavnov-Taylor identities. We find the relation between the renormalized parameters in our scheme and in the conventional $\overline{\rm MS}$ scheme which allow us to obtain the explicit two-loop renormalization group equations in our scheme from the known two-loop ones in the $\overline{\rm MS}$ scheme. We calculate in our scheme the divergences of two-loop vacuum graphs in the presence of a constant scalar background field which allow us to rederive the two-loop beta functions for parameters of the scalar potential. We also prove that consistent application of the proposed regularization leads to counterterms which, together with the original action, combine to a bare action expressed in terms of bare parameters. This, together with treating $\Lambda$ as an intrinsic scale of a hypothetical underlying finite theory of all interactions, offers a possibility of an unconventional solution to the hierarchy problem if no intermediate scales between the electroweak scale and the Planck scale exist.Comment: updated references, 90 pages, many figure

Nuclear Forces and Few-Nucleon Studies Based on Chiral Perturbation Theory

After a brief review on the status of few--nucleon studies based on conventional nuclear forces, we sketch the concepts of the effective field theory approach constrained by chiral symmetry and its application to nuclear forces. Then first results for few--nucleon observables are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, presented by W. Gloeckle at the International Symposium on "A New Era of Nuclear Structure Physics", Kurokawa Village (Niigata Pref.), Japan, Nov. 19-22, 200

Few-Nucleon Systems with Two-Nucleon Forces from Chiral Effective Field Theory

Nucleon-nucleon (NN) forces from chiral perturbation theory at next-to-leading (NLO) and next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) are applied to systems with two, three and four nucleons. At NNLO, we consider two versions of the chiral potential which differ in the strength of the two-pion-exchange (TPE) but describe two nucleon observables equally well. The NNLO potential leads to unphysical deeply bound states in the low partial waves and effects of the 3N forces, which appear first at this order, are expected to be large. We provide arguments for a reduction of the TPE potential and introduce the NNLO* version of the NN forces. We calculate nd scattering observables as well as various properties of 3H and 4He with the NNLO* potential and find good agreement with the data and with predictions based upon the standard high-precision potentials. We find an improved description of the 3H and 4He binding energies.Comment: 34 pages, 25 figure