Microscopic examination of hot spots giving rise to nonlinearity in superconducting resonators

We investigate the microscopic origins of nonlinear rf response in superconducting electromagnetic resonators. Strong nonlinearity appearing in the transmission spectra at high input powers manifests itself through the emergence of jumplike features near the resonant frequency that evolve toward lower quality factor with higher insertion loss as the rf input power is increased. We directly relate these characteristics to the dynamics of localized normal regions (hot spots) caused by microscopic features in the superconducting material making up the resonator. A clear observation of hot-spot formation inside a Nb thin film self-resonant structure is presented by employing the microwave laser scanning microscope, and a direct link between microscopic and macroscopic manifestations of nonlinearity is established.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Electrical breakdown of a dielectric for the formation of a superconducting nanocontact

Electrical breakdown of the dielectric nanolayer between film electrodes of niobium and an alloy of 50% indium and 50% tin forms a bridge of this alloy between the electrodes. The bridge resistance depends on the breakdown current. The length of the bridge is equal to the thickness of the dielectric (30 nm), and its diameter is 25 nm. The calculated coherence length of the alloy at 0 K is close to the length of the bridge. The calculated critical current of a bridge with a resistance of 1 {\Omega} at a temperature of 0 K is 2 mA. It is concluded that such a bridge should have the properties of a Josephson contact at a temperature lower than the critical temperature of the alloy (6.5 K).Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Automation of Educational Institution Documentation

The article addresses issues related to the implementation of the competence approach in order to make the teaching process of an educational institution more efficient, analyzes the reasons for diminished efficiency of putting into practice the automated systems used for university management. The authors propose the structure of an automated system, which allows the university to create the required package of teaching documents taking into account the three-level system: administrator, supervisor of educational program, and lecturer. Designing object-oriented model in the area of a special subject requires identification of business-requirements to the system. On the basis of the model of subject area and specified business-requirements, the diagram of applying variants and the schemes of functioning is constructed. The suggested system of the automated execution of teaching documents enables to reduce error rate while carrying out and implementing it due to the integrated system of conceptions and feedback between its elements

Observation of breathers in Josephson ladders

We report on the observation of spatially-localized excitations in a ladder of small Josephson junctions. The excitations are whirling states which persist under a spatially-homogeneous force due to the bias current. These states of the ladder are visualized using a low temperature scanning laser microscopy. We also compute breather solutions with high accuracy in corresponding model equations. The stability analysis of these solutions is used to interpret the measured patterns in the I-V characteristics

Laser Scanning Microscopy of HTS Films and Devices

The work describes the capabilities of Laser Scanning Microscopy (LSM) as a spatially resolved method of testing high_Tc materials and devices. The earlier results obtained by the authors are briefly reviewed. Some novel applications of the LSM are illustrated, including imaging the HTS responses in rf mode, probing the superconducting properties of HTS single crystals, development of twobeam laser scanning microscopy. The existence of the phase slip lines mechanism of resistivity in HTS materials is proven by LSM imaging.Comment: 17 pages, 21 figures, Submitted to Fizika Nizkikh Temperatur (Low Temperature Physics