Size dependence of the Josephson critical behavior in pyrolytic graphite TEM lamellae

We have studied the transport characteristics of TEM lamellae of different widths obtained from a graphite sample with electrical contacts at the edges of the embedded interfaces. The temperature dependence of the resistance, as well as the current-voltage characteristics, are compatible with the existence of Josephson-coupled superconducting regions. The transition temperature at which the Josephson behavior sets in decreases with a decreasing interface width and vanishes for widths below 200 nm. This interface-size dependence provides an explanation for differences observed in the transport behavior of graphite-based samples with interfaces, and it appears to be related to the influence o…

Mean-field theory for superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene

Recent experiments show how a bilayer graphene twisted around a certain magic angle becomes superconducting as it is doped into a region with approximate flat bands. We investigate the mean-field s-wave superconducting state in such a system and show how the state evolves as the twist angle is tuned, and as a function of the doping level. We argue that part of the experimental findings could well be understood to result from an attractive electron-electron interaction mediated by electron-phonon coupling, but the flat-band nature of the excitation spectrum also makes the superconductivity quite unusual. For example, as the flat-band states are highly localized around certain spots in the st…

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Momentum-space structure of surface states in a topological semimetal with a nexus point of Dirac lines

Three-dimensional topological semimetals come in different variants, either containing Weyl points or Dirac lines. Here we describe a more complicated momentum-space topological defect where several separate Dirac lines connect with each other, forming a momentum-space equivalent of the real-space nexus considered before for helium-3. Close to the nexus the Dirac lines exhibit a transition from type I to type II lines. We consider a general model of stacked honeycomb lattices with the symmetry of Bernal (AB) stacked graphite and show that the structural mirror symmetries in such systems protect the presence of the Dirac lines, and also naturally lead to the formation of the nexus. By the bu…

Thermoelectric radiation detector based on a superconductor-ferromagnet junction : Calorimetric regime

We study the use of a thermoelectric junction as a thermal radiation detector in the calorimetric regime, where single radiation bursts can be separated in time domain. We focus especially on the case of a large thermoelectric figure of merit ZT affecting significantly, for example, the relevant thermal time scales. This work is motivated by the use of hybrid superconductor/ferromagnet systems in creating an unprecedentedly high low-temperature ZT even exceeding unity. Besides constructing a very general noise model which takes into account cross correlations between charge and heat noise, we show how the detector signal can be efficiently multiplexed by the use of resonant LC circuits givi…

Cold-atom thermoelectrics

Two coupled reservoirs of cold atoms can be used as a model system to study the thermoelectric effect. [Also see Report by Brantut et al. ]

Oxomolybdenum(VI) complexes with glycine bisphenol [O,N,O,O’] ligand: Synthesis and catalytic studies

The oxomolybdenum(VI) complex [MoOCl(L)] with a tetradentate glycine bisphenol ligand (H3L) was prepared by reaction of [MoO2Cl2(DMSO)2] with a ligand precursor in hot toluene. The product was isolated in moderate yield as separable cis and trans isomers along with the third minor component, [MoO2(HL)]. The solid-state structure of trans-[MoOCl(L)] was determined by X-ray diffraction. The ligand has tetradentate coordination through three oxygens and one nitrogen, which is located trans to the terminal oxo whereas the sixth coordination site is occupied by a chloride. Both cis and trans isomers of [MoOCl(L)] are active catalysts for epoxidation of cis-cyclooctene and sulfoxidation of tolyl …

Nexus and Dirac lines in topological materials

We consider the Z2 topology of the Dirac lines, i.e., lines of band contacts, on an example of graphite. Four lines—three with topological charge N1 = 1each and one with N1 = -1—merge together near the H-point and annihilate due to summation law1 ++-= 1110. The merging point is similar to the real-space nexus, an analog of the Dirac monopole at which the Z2 strings terminate. peerReviewed

Intrinsic spin-orbit interaction in diffusive normal wire Josephson weak links: Supercurrent and density of states

We study the effect of the intrinsic (Rashba or Dresselhaus) spin-orbit interaction in superconductor–nanowire–superconductor (SNS) weak links in the presence of a spin-splitting field that can result either from an intrinsic exchange field or the Zeeman effect of an applied field. We solve the full nonlinear Usadel equations numerically [The code used for calculating the results in this paper is available in https://github.com/wompo/Usadel-for-nanowires] and analyze the resulting supercurrent through the weak link and the behavior of the density of states in the center of the wire. We point out how the presence of the spin-orbit interaction gives rise to a long-range spin triplet supercurr…

Lindblad equation approach for the full counting statistics of work and heat in driven quantum systems

We formulate the general approach based on the Lindblad equation to calculate the full counting statistics of work and heat produced by driven quantum systems weakly coupled with a Markovian thermal bath. The approach can be applied to a wide class of dissipative quantum systems driven by an arbitrary force protocol. We show the validity of general fluctuation relations and consider several generic examples. The possibilities of using calorimetric measurements to test the presence of coherence and entanglement in the open quantum systems are discussed. QC 20141010

Theory of phase-mixing amplification in an optomechanical system

The investigation of the ultimate limits imposed by quantum mechanics on amplification represents an important topic both on a fundamental level and from the perspective of potential applications. We discuss here a novel regime for bosonic linear amplifiers—beside phase-insensitive and phase-sensitive amplification—which we term here phase-mixing amplification. Furthermore, we show that phase-mixing amplification can be realised in a cavity optomechanical setup, constituted by a mechanical resonator which is dispersively coupled to an optomechanical cavity asymmetrically driven around both mechanical sidebands. While, in general, this amplifier is phase-mixing, for a suitable choice of para…

Spin Pumping and Torque Statistics in the Quantum Noise Limit

We analyze the statistics of charge and energy currents and spin torque in a metallic nanomagnet coupled to a large magnetic metal via a tunnel contact. We derive a Keldysh action for the tunnel barrier, describing the stochastic currents in the presence of a magnetization precessing with the rate Ω. In contrast to some earlier approaches, our result is valid for an arbitrary ratio of ℏΩ/kBT. We illustrate the use of the action by deriving spintronic fluctuation relations, the quantum limit of pumped current noise, and consider the fluctuations in two specific cases: the situation with a stable precession of magnetization driven by spin transfer torque, and the torque-induced switching betw…

Controlling magnetism through Ising superconductivity in magnetic van der Waals heterostructures

Van der Waals heterostructures have risen as a tunable platform to combine different electronic orders, due to the flexibility in stacking different materials with competing symmetry broken states. Among them, van der Waals ferromagnets such as CrI3 and superconductors as NbSe2 provide a natural platform to engineer novel phenomena at ferromagnet-superconductor interfaces. In particular, NbSe2 is well known for hosting strong spin-orbit coupling effects that influence the properties of the superconducting state. Here we put forward a ferromagnet/NbSe2/ferromagnet heterostructure where the interplay between Ising superconductivity in NbSe2 and magnetism controls the magnetic alignment of the…

Collective amplitude mode fluctuations in a flat band superconductor formed at a semimetal surface

We study the fluctuations of the amplitude (i.e. the Higgs-Anderson) mode in a superconducting system of coupled Dirac particles proposed as a model for possible surface or interface superconductivity in rhombohedral graphite. This system also serves as a generic model of a topological semimetal with an interaction driven transition on its surface. We show that the absence of Fermi energy and vanishing of the excitation gap of the collective amplitude mode in the model leads to a large fluctuation contribution to thermodynamic quantities such as the heat capacity. As a consequence, the mean-field theory becomes inaccurate indicating that the interactions lead to a strongly correlated state.…

Supercurrent-induced charge-spin conversion in spin-split superconductors

We study spin-polarized quasiparticle transport in a mesoscopic superconductor with a spin-splitting field in the presence of coflowing supercurrent. In such a system, the nonequilibrium state is characterized by charge, spin, energy, and spin-energy modes. Here we show that in the presence of both spin splitting and supercurrent, all these modes are mutually coupled. As a result, the supercurrent can convert charge imbalance, which in the presence of spin splitting decays on a relatively short scale, to a long-range spin accumulation decaying only via inelastic scattering. This effect enables coherent charge-spin conversion controllable by a magnetic flux, and it can be detected by studyin…