0000000000364976
AUTHOR
Sh. Farhangfar
One dimensional arrays and solitary tunnel junctions in the weak coulomb blockade regime: CBT thermometry
In this article we review the use of the tunnel junction arrays for primary thermometry. In addition to our basic experimental and theoretical results we stress the insensitivity of this method to the fluctuating background charges, to nonidealities in the array and to magnetic field. Important new results of this article are the low temperature corrections to the half width and depth of the measured conductance dip beyond the linear approximation. We also point ou that short arrays, single tunnel junctions in particular, show interesting deviations from the universal behaviour of the long arrays.
Single-electron tunneling in metal droplets in the high conductance regime
We present single-electron tunneling results for well-characterized multidroplet systems in the high conductance regime. The work was conducted with tunnel systems comprising ultra-small Ni droplets. The conductance associated with individual droplets was estimated to reach 18--19G{sub K} in systems exhibiting especially high conductance. The P(E) (phase correlation) theory has been successfully applied to the conductance characteristics of these systems. Our results suggest that in the high conductance regime the droplets can be modeled as single, resistively isolated tunnel junctions. Based on an analysis of the single-electron properties of these systems, the average number of droplets N…
Unconventional behavior of superconducting nanostructures
Abstract Various aluminium nanostructures have been studied experimentally. Unusual nonmonotonous dependence of the critical current on external magnetic field has been observed. Pronounced nonlocal interaction has been found to decay exponentially on a scale of the superconducting coherence length ξ(T).
Experiments on tunnelling in small normal-metal junctions influenced by dissipative environment: Critical comparison to the theories of quantum fluctuations
We report on experiments of charging in small normal metal tunnel junctions attached to well-defined resistive impedances. Our experiments are in very good agreement with the phase-correlation (PC) theory but not with the simplified voltage fluctuation (VF) model. The strong tunnelling corrections to the PC theory make the agreement with our results even better in the case of junctions with low resistance.
Coulomb blockade in one-dimensional arrays of high-conductance tunnel junctions
Properties of one-dimensional (1D) arrays of low Ohmic tunnel junctions (i.e. junctions with resistances comparable to, or less than, the quantum resistance $R_{\rm q}\equiv h/e^2\approx 25.8$ k$\Omega$) have been studied experimentally and theoretically. Our experimental data demonstrate that -- in agreement with previous results on single- and double-junction systems -- Coulomb blockade effects survive even in the strong tunneling regime and are still clearly visible for junction resistances as low as 1 k$\Omega$. We have developed a quasiclassical theory of electron transport in junction arrays in the strong tunneling regime. Good agreement between the predictions of this theory and the …
Effect of the electromagnetic environment on arrays of small normal metal tunnel junctions: Numerical and experimental investigation
We present results of a set of experiments to investigate the effect of dissipative external electromagnetic environment on tunneling in linear arrays of junctions in the weak tunneling regime. The influence of this resistance decreases as the number of junctions in the chain increases and ultimately becomes negligible. Further, there is a value of external impedance, typically \~5 k$\Omega$, at which the half-width of the zero-voltage dip in the conductance curve shows a maximum. Some new analytical formulae, based on the phase-correlation theory, along with numerical results will be presented.
One and two dimensional tunnel junction arrays in weak Coulomb blockade regime-absolute accuracy in thermometry
We have investigated one and two dimensional (1D and 2D) arrays of tunnel junctions in partial Coulomb blockade regime. The absolute accuracy of the Coulomb blockade thermometer is influenced by the external impedance of the array, which is not the same in the different topologies of 1D and 2D arrays. We demonstrate, both by experiment and by theoretical calculations in simple geometries, that the 1D structures are better in this respect. Yet in both 1D and 2D, the influence of the environment can be made arbitrarily small by making the array sufficiently large.
Feasibility of Coulomb blockade thermometry in metrology
Abstract Coulomb blockade thermometer (CBT) is a simple, magnetic-field-independent primary thermometer for everyday use at cryogenic temperatures. Its properties are well understood by now. The absolute accuracy at present is about ±0.5%. Recently, we have started studying the possibility of using CBT in metrological applications. We have especially in mind the future extension of the international temperature scale below 0.65 K, which is the lower end of ITS-90. Experiments with arrays containing more than 100 tunnel junctions in series are in progress in order to decrease the effects of electromagnetic environment and of co-tunnelling even below the present level.