510 research outputs found
Transition from a mixed to a pure d-wave symmetry in superconducting optimally doped YBaCuO thin films under applied fields
We have probed the Landau levels of nodal quasi-particles by tunneling along
a nodal direction of (110) oriented YBaCuO thin films with a
magnetic field applied perpendicular to the planes, and parallel to the
film's surface. In optimally doped films and at low temperature, finite energy
nodal states are clearly observed in films thinner than the London penetration
depth. Above a well defined temperature the order parameter reverts to a pure
\emph{d}-wave symmetry.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Normal metal to ferromagnetic superconductor tunneling
We study the point-contact tunneling between normal metal and ferromagnetic
superconductor. In the case of magnon-induced pairing the tunneling conductance
is continuous and smooth function of the applied voltage. For small values of
the applied voltage the Ohm law holds. We show that one can obtain the
magnetization and the superconducting order parameter from the tunneling
conduc- tance. In the case of paramagnon-induced superconductivity the
tunneling does not depend on the magnetization. We argue that tunneling
experiment can unambiguously determine the correct pairing mechanism in the
ferromagnetic superconductors.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figur
Fate of the Josephson effect in thin-film superconductors
The dc Josephson effect refers to the dissipationless electrical current --
the supercurrent -- that can be sustained across a weak link connecting two
bulk superconductors. This effect is a probe of the fundamental nature of the
superconducting state. Here, we analyze the case of two superconducting thin
films connected by a point contact. Remarkably, the Josephson effect is absent
at nonzero temperature, and the resistance across the contact is nonzero.
Moreover, the point contact resistance is found to vary with temperature in a
nearly activated fashion, with a UNIVERSAL energy barrier determined only by
the superfluid stiffness characterizing the films, an angle characterizing the
geometry, and whether or not the Coulomb interaction between Cooper pairs is
screened. This behavior reflects the subtle nature of the superconductivity in
two-dimensional thin films, and should be testable in detail by future
experiments.Comment: 16 + 8 pages. 1 figure, 1 tabl
Mesoscopic proximity effect in double barrier Superconductor/Normal Metal junctions
We report transport measurements down to T=60mK of SININ and SNIN structures
in the diffusive limit. We fabricated Al-AlOx/Cu/AlOx/Cu (SININ) and
Al/Cu/AlOx/Cu (SNIN) vertical junctions. For the first time, a zero bias
anomaly was observed in a metallic SININ structure. We attribute this peak of
conductance to coherent multi-reflections of electrons between the two tunnel
barriers. This conductance maximum is quantitatively fitted by the relevant
theory of mesoscopic SININ structures. When the barrier at the SN interface is
removed (SNIN structure), we observe a peak of conductance at finite voltage
accompagnied by an excess of sub-gap conductance.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, editorially approved for publication in Phys.
Rev. B Rapid Com
c-Axis tunneling in YBa2Cu3O7-\delta/PrBa2Cu3O7-\delta superlattices
In this work we report c-axis conductance measurements done on a superlattice
based on a stack of 2 layers YBa2Cu3O{7-\delta} and 7 layers
PrBa2Cu3O{7-\delta} (2:7). We find that these quasi-2D structures show no clear
superconducting coupling along the c-axis. Instead, we observe tunneling with a
gap of \Delta_c=5.0\pm 0.5 meV for the direction perpendicular to the
superconducting planes. The conductance spectrum show well defined
quasi-periodic structures which are attributed to the superlattice structure.
From this data we deduce a low temperature c-axis coherence length of
\xi_c=0.24\pm 0.03 nm.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Phys.Rev.
Theory of Tunneling Anomaly in Superconductor above Paramagnetic Limit
We study the tunneling density of states (DoS) in the superconducting systems
driven by Zeeman splitting into the paramagnetic phase. We show that,
even though the BCS gap disappears, superconducting fluctuations cause a strong
DoS singularity in the vicinity of energies for electrons polarized
along the magnetic field and for the opposite polarization. The position
of this singularity E^*=\case{1}{2}(E_Z + \sqrt{E_Z^2- \Delta^2}) (where
is BCS gap at ) is universal. We found analytically the shape
of the DoS for different dimensionality of the system. For ultra-small grains
the singularity has the shape of the hard gap, while in higher dimensions it
appears as a significant though finite dip. The spin-orbit scattering, and the
orbital magnetic field suppress the singularity. Our results are qualitatively
consistent with recent experiments in superconducting films.Comment: 29 pages, 17 figures include
Genome-Wide Requirements for Resistance to Functionally Distinct DNA-Damaging Agents
The mechanistic and therapeutic differences in the cellular response to DNA-damaging compounds are not completely understood, despite intense study. To expand our knowledge of DNA damage, we assayed the effects of 12 closely related DNA-damaging agents on the complete pool of ~4,700 barcoded homozygous deletion strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In our protocol, deletion strains are pooled together and grown competitively in the presence of compound. Relative strain sensitivity is determined by hybridization of PCR-amplified barcodes to an oligonucleotide array carrying the barcode complements. These screens identified genes in well-characterized DNA-damage-response pathways as well as genes whose role in the DNA-damage response had not been previously established. High-throughput individual growth analysis was used to independently confirm microarray results. Each compound produced a unique genome-wide profile. Analysis of these data allowed us to determine the relative importance of DNA-repair modules for resistance to each of the 12 profiled compounds. Clustering the data for 12 distinct compounds uncovered both known and novel functional interactions that comprise the DNA-damage response and allowed us to define the genetic determinants required for repair of interstrand cross-links. Further genetic analysis allowed determination of epistasis for one of these functional groups
High Resolution Spectroscopy of Two-Dimensional Electron Systems
Spectroscopic methods involving the sudden injection or ejection of electrons
in materials are a powerful probe of electronic structure and interactions.
These techniques, such as photoemission and tunneling, yield measurements of
the "single particle" density of states (SPDOS) spectrum of a system. The SPDOS
is proportional to the probability of successfully injecting or ejecting an
electron in these experiments. It is equal to the number of electronic states
in the system able to accept an injected electron as a function of its energy
and is among the most fundamental and directly calculable quantities in
theories of highly interacting systems. However, the two-dimensional electron
system (2DES), host to remarkable correlated electron states such as the
fractional quantum Hall effect, has proven difficult to probe
spectroscopically. Here we present an improved version of time domain
capacitance spectroscopy (TDCS) that now allows us to measure the SPDOS of a
2DES with unprecedented fidelity and resolution. Using TDCS, we perform
measurements of a cold 2DES, providing the first direct measurements of the
single-particle exchange-enhanced spin gap and single particle lifetimes in the
quantum Hall system, as well as the first observations of exchange splitting of
Landau levels not at the Fermi surface. The measurements reveal the difficult
to reach and beautiful structure present in this highly correlated system far
from the Fermi surface.Comment: There are formatting and minor textual differences between this
version and the published version in Nature (follow the DOI link below
Microfluidic impedance biosensors for monitoring a single and multiple cancer cells in anticancer drug treatments
In this work, we present a novel microfluidic impedance biosensor chip for trapping both a single and multiple cancer cells and monitoring their response to the anti-cancer drug treatment. By designing different sizes of working microelectrodes together with the V-shaped cell capture structures, a single or multiple cells are trapped on the microelectrodes surfaces. In addition, by utilizing the passive pumping method, cells can be trapped and positioned inside the microchannels without the need of using the outer micro pump or syringe. The impedance change induced by the response of cells to the anticancer drug Cisplatin treatment was successfully recorded. The proposed biosensor chip has a great potential for applications in cancer cell research, drug screening, and quantification of cancer cells from various tumor stages. The results of this study open potential research collaborations about development of cost-effective devices and lab-on-chips for early disease detection, studies of cancerous cells and their response to anti-cancer drugs to optimize cancer treatments, characterisation of mechanical properties of cells, new drug delivery mechanisms, and micro and nano manufacturing
The Current-Temperature Phase Diagram of Layered Superconductors
The behavior of clean layered superconductors in the presence of a finite
electric current and in zero-magnetic field behavior is addressed. The
structure of the current temperature phase diagram and the properties of each
of the four regions will be explained. We will discuss the expected current
voltage and resistance characteristics of each region as well as the effects of
finite size and weak disorder on the phase diagram. In addition, the reason for
which a weakly non-ohmic region exists above the transition temperature will be
explained.Comment: 8 pages (RevTeX), 4 encapsulated postscript figure
- …