Search results for "supercurrent"

Exploiting Coherence in Nonlinear Spin-Superfluid Transport

2017

We show how the interference between superfluid spin currents can endow spin circuits with coherent logic functionality. While the hydrodynamic aspects of the linear-response collective spin transport obviate interference features, we focus on the nonlinear regime, where the critical supercurrent is sensitive to the phase accumulated by the condensate in a loop geometry. We propose to control this phase by electrical gating, tuning the spin-condensate coherence length. The nonlinear aspects of the spin superfluidity thus naturally lend themselves to the construction of logic gates, uniquely exploiting the coherence of collective spin currents. Vice versa, this functionality can be used to r…

Arrays of Josephson junctions in an environment with vanishing impedance

1999

The Hamiltonian operator for an unbiased array of Josephson junctions with gate voltages is constructed when only Cooper pair tunnelling and charging effects are taken into account. The supercurrent through the system and the pumped current induced by changing the gate voltages periodically are discussed with an emphasis on the inaccuracies in the Cooper pair pumping. Renormalisation of the Hamiltonian operator is used in order to reliably parametrise the effects due to inhomogeneity in the array and non-ideal gating sequences. The relatively simple model yields an explicit, testable prediction based on three experimentally motivated and determinable parameters.

Fabrication of Quasi-One-Dimensional Superconducting Micro- and Nanostructures

2007

Wires capable of conducting electric current are basic blocks of all electronic applications. Of particular interest for nanoelectronics are superconducting elements taking advantage of the superconductor's macroscopic quantum coherence and zero resistance. Recently there appeared indications that due to quantum fluctuations the dissipationless electric current (supercurrent) can be suppressed in ultra-narrow superconducting channels with the effective diameter below approximately 10 nm. In this Review we will describe methods of fabrication of quasi-one-dimensional superconducting micro- and nanowires suitable for electric transport measurements at cryogenic temperatures. In the first sect…

Complete stabilization and improvement of the characteristics of tunnel junctions by thermal annealing

2006

We have observed that submicron sized Al--AlO{$_x$}--Al tunnel junctions can be stabilized completely by annealing them in vacuum at temperatures between $350^{\circ}$C and $450^{\circ}$C. In addition, low temperature characterization of the samples after the annealing treatment showed a marked improvement of the tunneling characteristics due to disappearance of unwanted resonances in the current. Charging energy, tunneling resistance, barrier thickness and height all increase after the treatment. The superconducting gap is not affected, but supercurrent is reduced in accordance with the increase of tunneling resistance.

Length-scale-dependent vortex-antivortex unbinding in epitaxialBi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δfilms

1998

The supercurrent transport properties of epitaxial ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{CaCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{8+\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}$ films in zero applied magnetic field were investigated in a temperature interval of \ensuremath{\approx}20 K below the mean-field critical temperature ${T}_{c0}.$ The modification of the shape of the $I\ensuremath{-}V$ curves observed by varying the temperature was explained in terms of vortex-fluctuation-induced layer decoupling and vortex-antivortex unbinding, revealing a strong probing-length dependence. The change of the effective dimensionality of thermally excited vortices involved in the dissipation process leads to the appearance of …

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

2015

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 non-linear Usadel equations numerically 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 supercurrent, which remains finite even in the limit of very large exchange fields. In particular, we show how rotating the fi…

Fabrication, Electrical Characterization and 1/f Noise Study of Submicron-sized Superconducting Tunnel Junctions

2016

Magnetoelectric effects in superconductor/ferromagnet bilayers

2018

We demonstrate that the hybrid structures consisting of a superconducting layer with an adjacent spin-textured ferromagnet demonstrate the variety of equilibrium magnetoelectric effects originating from coupling between the conduction electron spin and superconducting current. By deriving and solving the generalized Usadel equation which takes into account the spin-filtering effect we find that a supercurrent generates spin polarization in the superconducting film which is non-coplanar with the local ferromagnetic moment. The inverse magnetoelectric effect in such structures is shown to result in the spontaneous phase difference across the magnetic topological defects such as a domain wall …

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

2016

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…

Flat-band superconductivity in strained Dirac materials

2016

We consider superconducting properties of a two-dimensional Dirac material such as graphene under strain that produces a flat band spectrum in the normal state. We show that in the superconducting state, such a model results in a highly increased critical temperature compared to the case without the strain, inhomogenous order parameter with two-peak shaped local density of states and yet a large and almost uniform and isotropic supercurrent. This model could be realized in strained graphene or ultracold atom systems and could be responsible for unusually strong superconductivity observed in some graphite interfaces and certain IV-VI semiconductor heterostructures.