0000000000387673
AUTHOR
Kartik Senapati
Fabrication and Characterization of Epitaxial NbN/TaN/NbN Josephson Junctions Grown by Pulsed Laser Ablation
We report fabrication and characterization of epitaxial NbN/TaN/NbN Josephson junctions grown by pulsed laser ablation. These SNS junctions can be used as elements of rapid-single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) logic, which is a promising technology for high speed digital electronic devices. The NbN/TaN/NbN trilayer films were prepared on a single crystal MgO substrate by pulsed laser ablation, and patterned into junctions using a novel process utilizing e-beam lithography, chemical vapor deposition and e-beam evaporation. The quality of junctions was tested by measuring the temperature dependence of the junctions' IcRn values, observed to be quite close to theoretical values.
Domain wall induced modulation of low field H-T phase diagram in patterned superconductor-ferromagnet stripes
We present a systematic study of the magnetic domain wall induced modulation of superconducting transition temperature (Tc) in Nb/Ni bilayer stripes. By varying the thickness of the Ni layer from 20 nm to 100 nm we have been able to measure the low field Tc-H phase diagram spanning the Neel domain wall and Bloch domain wall range of thicknesses. Micromagnetic simulations and magnetic force microscopy measurements confirmed a stronger out-of-plane stray field in the Bloch domain walls compared to the Neel walls. A suppression in Tc was observed in the magnetization reversal region of the Ni film, the magnitude of which followed linearly to the strength of the out-of-plane stray field due to …
Irreversibility of the threshold field for dendritic flux avalanches in superconductors
Hysteretic effects are seen in the upper and lower threshold fields for the appearance of dendritic flux instabilities, first explained in Yurchenko et al. [Phys. Rev. B 76 (2007) 092504], in NbN-films. We have measured the threshold fields at increasing and decreasing applied fields at different temperatures and proposed a mechanism explaining how the hysteresis arises by analyzing the field profiles inside the sample.
Reentrant stability of superconducting films and the vanishing of dendritic flux instability
We propose a mechanism responsible for the abrupt vanishing of the dendritic flux instability found in many superconducting films when an increasing magnetic field is applied. The onset of flux avalanches and the subsequent reentrance of stability in NbN films were investigated using magneto-optical imaging, and the threshold fields were measured as functions of critical current density ${j}_{c}$. The results are explained with excellent quantitative agreement by a thermomagnetic model published recently [D. V. Denisov et al., Phys. Rev. B 73, 014512 (2006)], showing that the reentrant stability is a direct consequence of a monotonously decreasing ${j}_{c}$ versus field.