Search results for "Tunnel effect"
showing 10 items of 36 documents
Properties of native ultrathin aluminium oxide tunnel barriers
2003
We have investigated planar metal–insulator–metal tunnel junctions with aluminium oxide as the dielectricum. These oxide barriers were grown on an aluminium electrode in pure oxygen at room temperature till saturation. By applying the Simmons model we derived discrete widths of the tunnelling barrier, separated by Δs ≈ 0.38 nm. This corresponds to the addition of single layers of oxygen atoms. The minimum thickness of s0 ≈ 0.54 nm is then due to a double layer of oxygen. We found a strong and systematic dependence of the barrier height on the barrier thickness. Breakdown fields up to 5 GV m−1 were reached. They decreased strongly with increasing barrier thickness. Electrical breakdown could…
A Contradiction between Pulsed and Steady-State Studies in the Recombination Kinetics of Close Frenkel Defects in KBr and KCl Crystals
1994
Theoretical study of the kinetics of the correlated annealing of pairs of close (geminate) F-H centers in KCl and KBr crystals controlled by their diffusion and elastic attraction shows that the multi-step (kink) decay in defect concentrations observed more than once in thermostimulated experiments takes place only for very close F-H center pairs which are no further than fourth nearest neighbors. On the other hand, it is demonstrated (both theoretically and experimentally) that such F-H center pairs should be destroyed by the tunneling recombination already at time ≤10 -4 s, i.e. much before beginning of the thermostimulated experiments. Possible explanations of this contradiction are sugg…
Magnetic tunneling junctions with the Heusler compound
2005
Abstract Certain Heusler phases belong to the materials which are discussed as potential half metals. Here, results of tunneling experiments with the full-Heusler alloy Co 2 Cr 0.6 Fe 0.4 Al are presented. The Heusler alloy is used as an electrode of magnetic tunneling junctions. The junctions are deposited by magnetron DC sputtering using shadow mask techniques with AlO x as a barrier and cobalt as counter electrode. Measurements of the magnetoresistive differential conductivity in a temperature range between 4 and 300 K are shown. An analysis of the barrier properties applying the Simmons model to the bias dependent junction conductivity is performed. VSM measurements were carried out to …
Frequency and temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity of KTaO3; Li and PbTiO3; La, Cu: Indication of a low temperature polaron mechanism
2008
Abstract Recently, the concept of polarons has again been at the focus of solid-state research, as it can constitute the basis for understanding the high-temperature superconductivity or the colossal magnetoresistance of materials. More than a decade ago there were some indications that polarons play an important role in explaining low temperature maxima in imaginary part of the dielectric constant e ″ ( T ) in ABO3 perovskites. In the present work we report the ac electrical conductivities of KTaO3; Li and PbTiO3; La, Cu and their frequency and temperature dependence. The real part of the complex ac conductivity was found to follow the universal dielectric response σ ′ ∝ ν s . A detailed t…
Direct observation of second-order atom tunnelling
2007
Tunnelling of material particles through a classically impenetrable barrier constitutes one of the hallmark effects of quantum physics. When interactions between the particles compete with their mobility through a tunnel junction, intriguing novel dynamical behaviour can arise where particles do not tunnel independently. In single-electron or Bloch transistors, for example, the tunnelling of an electron or Cooper pair can be enabled or suppressed by the presence of a second charge carrier due to Coulomb blockade. Here we report on the first direct and time-resolved observation of correlated tunnelling of two interacting atoms through a barrier in a double well potential. We show that for we…
Counting atoms using interaction blockade in an optical superlattice.
2008
We report on the observation of an interaction blockade effect for ultracold atoms in optical lattices, analogous to Coulomb blockade observed in mesoscopic solid state systems. When the lattice sites are converted into biased double wells, we detect a discrete set of steps in the well population for increasing bias potentials. These correspond to tunneling resonances where the atom number on each side of the barrier changes one by one. This allows us to count and control the number of atoms within a given well. By evaluating the amplitude of the different plateaus, we can fully determine the number distribution of the atoms in the lattice, which we demonstrate for the case of a superfluid …
Mechanism of self-trapped hole motion in corundum crystals
1993
Abstract Atomistic simulations of the self-trapped hole eauilibrium geometry and migration in a pure corundum crystal have been carried out using the semiempirical method of intermedia te neglect of differential overlap and atom-atom potentials, as implemented in the CASCADE code. The activation energies for three different hole-hopping mechanisms are calculated. It is shown that the 60° reorientations of a self-trapped hole and hopping to the nearest O-atom triangle reauire almost the same activation energy, approximately 0.9 eV, which agrees auite well with the experi-mental value for hole migration of 0.7 eV. A new mechanism of small-polaron motion is suggested.
Tunneling junctions of the heavy-fermion superconductor UPd2Al3
1998
Abstract Tunneling spectroscopy on planar Giaever-type junctions is a powerful tool for the investigation of the superconducting state of metals. Since it is possible to prepare high-quality epitaxial thin films of the heavy-fermion compound UPd 2 Al 3 , this method can be used to examine the energy gap of this presumably unconventional superconductor. We prepared cross-junctions consisting of a UPd 2 Al 3 base electrode and a metal counter electrode (Au, Al or Ag). These small area contacts without artificial barriers have only low junction resistances and suffer from irreproducibility. On the other hand, on some of those junctions we observed BCS-like tunneling conductivity. In order to i…
Electromagnetically induced tunnelling suppression in a flux qubit
2003
Motivated by recent experiments wherein Josephson devices are irradiated by microwaves fields or are coupled to LC resonators, we theoretically investigate the dynamics of a flux qubit coupled to a monochromatic bosonic mode. We define strong coupling conditions under which the qubit tunnelling frequency between the localized flux states can be controlled and even suppressed. The practical realization of such a regime leading to this hindered dynamics is discussed.
Tunneling and point contact investigations of La1.85Sr0.15CuO4
1987
The high-T c superconductor La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 was investigated by means of point contact and tunneling measurements on small-sized contacts. We find different values for the energy gap at different points of the samples. The ratio 2Delta/k B T c ranges from about 3 to 6. For some point contacts we observe a clear signature of a supercurrent. Data for the temperature dependence of the critical current are presented.