Search results for "SUPERCONDUCTIVITY"
showing 10 items of 983 documents
Phase-dependent microwave response of a graphene Josephson junction
2021
Gate-tunable Josephson junctions embedded in a microwave environment provide a promising platform to in situ engineer and optimize novel superconducting quantum circuits. The key quantity for the circuit design is the phase-dependent complex admittance of the junction, which can be probed by sensing a radio frequency SQUID with a tank circuit. Here, we investigate a graphene-based Josephson junction as a prototype gate-tunable element enclosed in a SQUID loop that is inductively coupled to a superconducting resonator operating at 3 GHz. With a concise circuit model that describes the dispersive and dissipative response of the coupled system, we extract the phase-dependent junction admittanc…
Dimensionality of the Superconductivity in the Transition Metal Pnictide WP
2020
We report theoretical and experimental results on the transition metal pnictide WP. The theoretical outcomes based on tight-binding calculations and density functional theory indicate that WP is a three-dimensional superconductor with an anisotropic electronic structure and nonsymmorphic symmetries. On the other hand, magnetoresistance experimental data and the analysis of superconducting fluctuations of the conductivity in external magnetic field indicate a weakly anisotropic three-dimensional superconducting phase.
Conceptual Design and Modeling of Fast Discharge Unit for Quench Protection of Superconducting Toroidal Field Magnets of DTT
2020
The paper deals with the modelling and simulation of a Fast Discharge Unit (FDU) for quench protection of the Toroidal Field (TF) magnets of the Divertor Tokamak Test, an experimental facility under design and construction in Frascati (Italy). The FDU is a safety key component that protects the superconducting magnets when a quench is detected through the fast extraction of the energy stored in superconducting magnets by adding in the TF magnets a dump (or discharge) resistor. In the paper, two different configurations of dump resistors (fixed and variable respectively) have been analysed and discussed. As a first result, it is possible to underline that the configuration with variable dump…
Evolution of topological superconductivity by orbital-selective confinement in oxide nanowires
2019
We determine the optimal conditions to achieve topological superconducting phases having spin-singlet pairing for a planar nanowire with finite lateral width in the presence of an in-plane external magnetic field. We employ a microscopic description that is based on a three-band electronic model including both the atomic spin-orbit coupling and the inversion asymmetric potential at the interface between oxide band-gap insulators. We consider amplitudes of the pairing gap, spin-orbit interactions and electronic parameters that are directly applicable to nanowires of LaAlO$_3$-SrTiO$_3$. The lateral confinement introduces a splitting of the $d$-orbitals that alters the orbital energy hierarch…
Coulomb blockade thermometry
1996
One dimensional arrays of normal metal tunnel junctions have been found to exhibit properties which are very suitable for primary and secondary thermometry in a lithographically adjustable temperature range which extends over about two decades. The thermometer is remarkably insensitive to nonuniformities in the actual pattern and to even strong magnetic fields. We also discuss the behaviour of this device at very low temperatures where the hot electron effect due to poor electron phonon coupling ultimately takes over and at very high temperatures where the finite tunnel barrier effects appear. Short arrays, and especially single tunnel junctions show interesting deviations from the universa…
Two-Dimensional Crystals and van der Waals Heterostructures based on Inorganic and Molecular Strongly Correlated Layered Materials
2021
“En resumen, toda obra grande es el fruto de la paciencia y de la perseverancia, combinadas con una atención orientada tenazmente durante meses y aun años hacia un objeto particular”. “In summary, all great work is the fruit of patience and perseverance, combined with tenacious concentration on a subject over a period of months or years”. Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Reglas y consejos sobre investigación científica. Madrid: Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, 1897). The present Thesis constitutes a journey –a romance of many dimensions, quoting Edwin Abbot Abbot– from 3D to 2D and, hopefully (we let the curious Reader judge), “Through Flatland to Thoughtland” (citing, again, Abbot…
Local tunneling study of three-dimensional order parameter in the pi band of Al-doped MgB2 single crystals
2007
We have performed local tunneling spectroscopy on high quality Mg$_{1-x}$Al$_x$B$_2$ single crystals by means of Variable Temperature Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy (STS) in magnetic field up to 3 Tesla. Single gap conductance spectra due to c-axis tunneling were extensively measured, probing different amplitudes of the three-dimensional $\Delta_\pi$ as a function of Al content. Temperature and magnetic field dependences of the conductance spectra were studied in S-I-N configuration: the effect of the doping resulted in a monotonous reduction of the locally measured $T_C$ down to 24K for x=0.2. On the other hand, we have found that the gap amplitude shows a maximum value $\Delta_\pi= 2.3$ …
Superconducting properties of Nb thin films deposited on porous silicon templates
2008
Porous silicon, obtained by electrochemical etching, has been used as a substrate for the growth of nanoperforated Nb thin films. The films, deposited by UHV magnetron sputtering on the porous Si substrates, inherited their structure made of holes of 5 or 10 nm diameter and of 10 to 40 nm spacing, which provide an artificial pinning structure. The superconducting properties were investigated by transport measurements performed in the presence of magnetic field for different film thickness and substrates with different interpore spacing. Perpendicular upper critical fields measurements present peculiar features such as a change in the H_c2(T) curvature and oscillations in the field dependenc…
Josephson Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers as Non-Classical Light Source for Microwave Quantum Illumination
2021
Abstract Detection of low-reflectivity objects can be enriched via the so-called quantum illumination procedure. In order that this quantum procedure outperforms classical detection protocols, entangled states of microwave radiation are initially required. In this paper, we discuss the role of Josephson Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers (JTWPAs), based on circuit-QED components, as suitable sources of a two-mode squeezed vacuum state, a special signal-idler entangled state. The obtained wide bandwidth makes the JTWPA an ideal candidate for generating quantum radiation in quantum metrology and information processing applications.
Valence electronic structure of C60: Theoretical analysis of photoemission data
1993
Abstract We present a theoretical investigation of the valence band photoemission spectra of C 60 using the nonempirical valence effective Hamiltonian (VEH) method. The VEH-DOVS curves calculated for the C 60 molecule are found to be in excellent agreement with synchrotron-radiation photoemission spectra reported for C 60 films. A detailed interpretation of all the photoemission bands is performed in the light of the VEH results.