6533b873fe1ef96bd12d5561

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Experimental limits of the observation of thermally activated phase-slip mechanism in superconducting nanowires

subject

description

The shape of experimentally observed $R(T)$ transition of thin superconducting wires is analyzed. From theoretical point of view, broadening of the transition in quasi-one-dimensional superconducting channels is typically associated with phase-slip mechanism. It is shown that such interpretation can be misleading if to consider geometrical inhomogeneity and finite dimensions of real samples studied in experiments. The analysis is based on experimental fact that for many superconducting materials the critical temperature depends on the characteristic dimension of a sample: film thickness or wire cross section.