321 research outputs found
Suppression of Superconductivity in Mesoscopic Superconductors
We propose a new boundary-driven phase transition associated with vortex
nucleation in mesoscopic superconductors (of size of the order of, or larger
than, the penetration depth). We derive the rescaling equations and we show
that boundary effects associated with vortex nucleation lowers the conventional
transition temperature in mesoscopic superconductors by an amount which is a
function of the size of the superconductor. This result explains recent
experiments in small superconductors where it was found that the transition
temperature depends on the size of the system and is lower than the critical
Berezinsk\u{i}-Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. Vol. 86 (15 Jan. 2001
Metastability and paramagnetism in superconducting mesoscopic disks
A projected order parameter is used to calculate, not only local minima of
the Ginzburg-Landau energy functional, but also saddle points or energy
barriers responsible for the metastabilities observed in superconducting
mesoscopic disks (Geim et al. Nature {\bf 396}, 144 (1998)). We calculate the
local minima magnetization and find the energetic instability points between
vortex configurations with different vorticity. We also find that, for any
vorticity, the supercurrent can reverse its flow direction on decreasing the
magnetic field before one vortex can escape.Comment: Modified version as to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Saddle point states and energy barriers for vortex entrance and exit in superconducting disks and rings
The transitions between the different vortex states of thin mesoscopic
superconducting disks and rings are studied using the non-linear
Ginzburg-Landau functional. They are saddle points of the free energy
representing the energy barrier which has to be overcome for transition between
the different vortex states. In small superconducting disks and rings the
saddle point state between two giant vortex states, and in larger systems the
saddle point state between a multivortex state and a giant vortex state and
between two multivortex states is obtained. The shape and the height of the
nucleation barrier is investigated for different disk and ring configurations.Comment: 10 pages, 18 figure
New combined PIC-MCC approach for fast simulation of a radio frequency discharge at low gas pressure
A new combined PIC-MCC approach is developed for accurate and fast simulation
of a radio frequency discharge at low gas pressure and high density of plasma.
Test calculations of transition between different modes of electron heating in
a ccrf discharge in helium and argon show a good agreement with experimental
data.
We demonstrate high efficiency of the combined PIC-MCC algorithm, especially
for the collisionless regime of electron heating.Comment: 6 paged, 8 figure
Classical double-layer atoms: artificial molecules
The groundstate configuration and the eigenmodes of two parallel
two-dimensional classical atoms are obtained as function of the inter-atomic
distance (d). The classical particles are confined by identical harmonic wells
and repel each other through a Coulomb potential. As function of d we find
several structural transitions which are of first or second order. For first
(second) order transitions the first (second) derivative of the energy with
respect to d is discontinuous, the radial position of the particles changes
discontinuously (continuously) and the frequency of the eigenmodes exhibit a
jump (one mode becomes soft, i.e. its frequency becomes zero).Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 5 ps figures, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let
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