114 research outputs found
Aluminum Hard Mask Technique for the Fabrication of High-Quality Submicron Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb Josephson Junctions
We have developed a combined photolithography and electron-beam lithography
fabrication process for sub-\mum to \mum-size Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb Josephson
junctions. In order to define the junction size and protect its top electrode
during anodic oxidation, we developed and used the new concept of an aluminum
hard mask. Josephson junctions of sizes down to 0.5 \mum2 have been fabricated
and thoroughly characterized. We found that they have a very high quality,
which is witnessed by the IV curves with quality parameters Vm > 50 mV and Vgap
= 2.8 mV at 4.2 K, as well as IcRN products of 1.75-1.93 mV obtained at lower
temperatures. In order to test the usability of our fabrication process for
superconducting quantum bits, we have also designed, fabricated and
experimentally investigated phase qubits made of these junctions. We found a
relaxation time of T1 = 26 ns and a dephasing time of T2 = 21 ns
High-Throughput Method of Whole-Brain Sectioning, Using the Tape-Transfer Technique
Cryostat sectioning is a popular but labor-intensive method for preparing histological brain sections. We have developed a modification of the commercially available CryoJane tape collection method that significantly improves the ease of collection and the final quality of the tissue sections. The key modification involves an array of UVLEDs to achieve uniform polymerization of the glass slide and robust adhesion between the section and slide. This report presents system components and detailed procedural steps, and provides examples of end results; that is, 20mum mouse brain sections that have been successfully processed for routine Nissl, myelin staining, DAB histochemistry, and fluorescence. The method is also suitable for larger brains, such as rat and monkey
Disorder and transport in cuprates: weak localization and magnetic contributions
We report resistivity measurements in underdoped YBaCuOand overdoped TlBaCuO single crystals in which the
concentration of defects in the CuO planes is controlled by electron
irradiation. Low upturns of the resistivity are observed in both cases for
large defect content. In the Tl compound the decrease of conductivity scales as
expected from weak localization theory. On the contrary in
YBaCuO the much larger low T contribution to the
resistivity is proportional to the defect content and might then be associated
to a Kondo like spin flip scattering term. This would be consistent with the
results on the magnetic properties induced by spinless defects.Comment: latex rullier1.tex, 5 files, 4 pages [SPEC-S01/003], submitted to
Phys. Rev. Let
Ferromagnetic Josephson switching device with high characteristic voltage
We develop a fast Magnetic Josephson Junction (MJJ) - a superconducting
ferromagnetic device for a scalable high-density cryogenic memory compatible in
speed and fabrication with energy-efficient Single Flux Quantum (SFQ) circuits.
We present experimental results for
Superconductor-Insulator-Ferromagnet-Superconductor (SIFS) MJJs with high
characteristic voltage IcRn of >700 uV proving their applicability for
superconducting circuits. By applying magnetic field pulses, the device can be
switched between MJJ logic states. The MJJ IcRn product is only ~30% lower than
that of conventional junction co-produced in the same process, allowing for
integration of MJJ-based and SIS-based ultra-fast digital SFQ circuits
operating at tens of gigahertz.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Combined potential and spin impurity scattering in cuprates
We present a theory of combined nonmagnetic and magnetic impurity scattering
in anisotropic superconductors accounting for the momentum-dependent impurity
potential. Applying the model to the d-wave superconducting state, we obtain a
quantitative agreement with the initial suppression of the critical temperature
due to Zn and Ni substitutions as well as electron irradiation defects in the
cuprates. We suggest, that the unequal pair-breaking effect of Zn and Ni may be
related to a different nature of the magnetic moments induced by these
impurities.Comment: 5 pages, 3 tables, RevTex, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Anisotropic impurities in anisotropic superconductors
Physical properties of anisotropic superconductors like the critical
temperature and others depend sensitively on the electron mean free path. The
sensitivity to impurity scattering and the resulting anomalies are considered a
characteristic feature of strongly anisotropic pairing. These anomalies are
usually analyzed in terms of s-wave impurity scattering which leads to
universal pair breaking effects depending on only two scattering parameters,
the mean free path and the impurity cross section. We investigate here
corrections coming from anisotropies in the scattering cross section, and find
not only quantitative but also qualitative deviations from universal s-wave
isotropic pairbreaking. The properties we study are the transition temperature,
the density of states, quasiparticle bound states at impurities, and pinning of
flux lines by impurities.Comment: 19 page
Non-solvable contractions of semisimple Lie algebras in low dimension
The problem of non-solvable contractions of Lie algebras is analyzed. By
means of a stability theorem, the problem is shown to be deeply related to the
embeddings among semisimple Lie algebras and the resulting branching rules for
representations. With this procedure, we determine all deformations of
indecomposable Lie algebras having a nontrivial Levi decomposition onto
semisimple Lie algebras of dimension , and obtain the non-solvable
contractions of the latter class of algebras.Comment: 21 pages. 2 Tables, 2 figure
The Influence of Specimen Thickness on the High Temperature Corrosion Behavior of CMSX-4 during Thermal-Cycling Exposure
CMSX-4 is a single-crystalline Ni-base superalloy designed to be used at very high temperatures and high mechanical loadings. Its excellent corrosion resistance is due to external alumina-scale formation, which however can become less protective under thermal-cycling conditions. The metallic substrate in combination with its superficial oxide scale has to be considered as a composite suffering high stresses. Factors like different coefficients of thermal expansion between oxide and substrate during temperature changes or growing stresses affect the integrity of the oxide scale. This must also be strongly influenced by the thickness of the oxide scale and the substrate as well as the ability to relief such stresses, e.g., by creep deformation. In order to quantify these effects, thin-walled specimens of different thickness (t = 100500 lm) were prepared. Discontinuous measurements of their mass changes were carried out under thermal-cycling conditions at a hot dwell temperature of 1100 C up to 300 thermal cycles. Thin-walled specimens revealed a much lower oxide-spallation rate compared to thick-walled specimens, while thinwalled specimens might show a premature depletion of scale-forming elements. In order to determine which of these competetive factor is more detrimental in terms of a component’s lifetime, the degradation by internal precipitation was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Additionally, a recently developed statistical spallation model was applied to experimental data [D. Poquillon and D. Monceau, Oxidation of Metals, 59, 409–431 (2003)]. The model describes the overall mass change by oxide scale spallation during thermal cycling exposure and is a useful simulation tool for oxide scale spallation processes accounting for variations in the specimen geometry. The evolution of the net-mass change vs. the number of thermal cycles seems to be strongly dependent on the sample thickness
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