Search results for "Condensed Matter::Superconductivity"
showing 10 items of 632 documents
NIS chip refrigeration
1999
A normal-metal/insulator/superconductor (NIS) tunnel junction can be applied to cool electrons by biasing the junction suitably with external voltage. Two NIS junctions in series can form an efficient microrefrigerator because of the symmetry with bias voltage. Our SINIS microrefrigerator has been capable of reaching electronic temperatures of about 100 mK starting from 300 mK. To achieve appreciable refrigeration of the underlying lattice, the microrefrigerator must be thermally decoupled from the bulk substrate. We have demonstrated experimentally the reduction of lattice temperature by 23 mK at 180 mK by extending the normal electrode on a thin dielectric membrane with four suspended bri…
Comparison among superconducting models for β″-ET4[(H3O)Fe(C2O4)3]·C6H5Br single crystals by scanning tunnelling spectroscopy
2008
Single crystals of the novel superconductor beta ''-(BEDT-TTF)(4)[(H3O)Fe(C2O4)(3)]center dot C6H5Br charge-transfer salt were studied using a scanning tunnelling microscope. The measured samples have an onset critical temperature of about 4.0 K. Features often reported on similar compounds were observed in the tunnelling spectra at 1.4 K. STS spectra are compared with several models for the superconducting density of states. Our analysis evidences inhomogeneous superconductivity and indicates that the presence of a magnetic layer into the sample plays a role in determining the superconducting spectroscopic features. (C) 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Microwave Surface Resistance and Upper-Critical-Field Anisotropy of MgB2 Superconductor
2002
The field-induced variations of the microwave surface resistance are investigated in two different samples of powdered MgB2. The experimental results can be justified in the framework of the Coffey and Clem model with fluxons moving in the flux-flow regime, provided that the anisotropy of the upper critical field is taken into due account. Assuming the angular dependence of the upper critical field expected from the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau theory, we determine the anisotropy factor by fitting the experimental data of the field dependence of the microwave surface resistance. We show that the anisotropy factor is constant in a range of temperatures of about 3 K below Tc and it takes on di…
Superconductivity mediated by spin fluctuations in the heavy-fermion compound UPd2 Al3
1999
It is well known that any weak attractive electron–electron interaction in metals can in principle cause the formation of Cooper pairs, which then condense into a superconducting ground state1. In conventional superconductors, this attractive interaction is mediated by lattice vibrations (phonons). But for the heavy-fermion and high-temperature superconductors, alternative pairing interactions are considered to be possible2. For example, the low-temperature properties of heavy-fermion systems are dominated by antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations, which have been considered theoretically3 as a possible cause for Cooper-pair formation. This picture recently received some experimental support: …
Origin of high critical currents in YBa2Cu3O7−δ superconducting thin films
1999
Thin films of the high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O7−δ exhibit both a large critical current (the superconducting current density generally lies between 1011 and 1012 A m−2 at 4.2 K in zero magnetic field) and a decrease in such currents with magnetic field that point to the importance of strong vortex pinning along extended defects1,2. But it has hitherto been unclear which types of defect—dislocations, grain boundaries, surface corrugations and anti-phase boundaries—are responsible. Here we make use of a sequential etching technique to address this question. We find that both edge and screw dislocations, which can be mapped quantitatively by this technique, are the linear defects t…
Critical current modulation induced by an electric field in superconducting tungsten-carbon nanowires
2021
The critical current of a superconducting nanostructure can be suppressed by applying an electric field in its vicinity. This phenomenon is investigated throughout the fabrication and electrical characterization of superconducting tungsten-carbon (W-C) nanostructures grown by Ga+ focused ion beam induced deposition (FIBID). In a 45 nm-wide, 2.7 μm-long W-C nanowire, an increasing side-gate voltage is found to progressively reduce the critical current of the device, down to a full suppression of the superconducting state below its critical temperature. This modulation is accounted for by the squeezing of the superconducting current by the electric field within a theoretical model based on th…
Conventional superconductivity at 203 kelvin at high pressures in the sulfur hydride system.
2015
A superconductor is a material that can conduct electricity without resistance below a superconducting transition temperature, Tc. The highest Tc that has been achieved to date is in the copper oxide system: 133 kelvin at ambient pressure and 164 kelvin at high pressures. As the nature of superconductivity in these materials is still not fully understood (they are not conventional superconductors), the prospects for achieving still higher transition temperatures by this route are not clear. In contrast, the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of conventional superconductivity gives a guide for achieving high Tc with no theoretical upper bound--all that is needed is a favourable combination of …
Heavy ion induced columnar defects: a sensitive probe for the 2D/3D behaviour of vortex matter in high-temperature superconductors
1998
Abstract Heavy ion irradiation is used to create columnar defects in high-temperature superconductors (HTS). The heavy ion induced defects are not only very well controlled in shape and density, but also in the direction of the tracks with respect to the crystallographic c-axis. Pinning of the flux lines as a function of magnetic field orientation then becomes dependent on vortex dimensionality. The two-dimensional (2D)/three-dimensional (3D) behaviour of flux lines was investigated in the highly anisotropic Bi-based superconducting oxide. Results obtained from transport current measurements with epitaxial films, measurements with small single crystals in flux transformer geometry and muon …
Tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural phase transition at 90 K in the superconductor Fe(1.01)Se.
2009
In this Letter we show that superconducting ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{1.01}\mathrm{Se}$ undergoes a structural transition at 90 K from a tetragonal to an orthorhombic phase but that nonsuperconducting ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{1.03}\mathrm{Se}$ does not. High resolution electron microscopy at low temperatures further reveals an unexpected additional modulation of the crystal structure of the superconducting phase that involves displacements of the Fe atoms, and that the nonsuperconducting composition shows a different, complex nanometer-scale structural modulation. Finally, we show that magnetism is not the driving force for the phase transition in the superconducting phase.
Superconductivity in the Heusler Family of Intermetallics
2012
Several physical properties of the superconducting Heusler compounds, focusing on two systems (Y, Lu, Sc)Pd2Sn and APd2M, where A=Hf, Zr and M=Al, In, are summarized and compared. The analysis of the data shows the importance of the electron-phonon coupling for superconductivity in this family. We report the superconducting parameters of YPd2Sn, which has the highest Tc among all known Heusler superconductors.