Search results for "tunnel junction"
showing 10 items of 75 documents
Tunneling spectroscopy of giant vorticity states in superconducting micro- and nanorings at ultra-low temperatures
2008
Abstract When a superconducting contour is exposed to a magnetic field screening currents are induced. At temperatures well below the critical temperature Tc periodicity of the persistent currents can significantly exceed the superconducting flux quantum h / 2 e due to formation of metastable energy states with high quantum winding numbers (vorticity). We have studied the effect in normal metal-insulator-superconductor (NIS) and SIS’IS tunnel structures with the superconducting (S or S′) electrode in a shape of a loop. The tunnel current oscillates due to the modulation of the superconducting density of states by the persistent currents reaching the sub-critical values. In the limit of loop…
Microrefrigeration by NIS tunnel junctions
1996
By using a normal metal-insulator-superconductor (NIS) tunnel junction one can manipulate the Fermi-Dirac distribution of the electrons in the normal electrode. If the junction is biased close to the superconducting gap, Δ, only “hot electrons” above Fermi level can tunnel from the normal electrode to the superconductor. Thus, due to the decoupling of the conduction electrons from the lattice at low temperatures, there exists a possibility to decrease the electronic temperature by this method. Because of the symmetry with bias voltage, two NIS tunnel junctions in series can form an efficient microrefrigerator. Temperature can be measured with two additional junctions by considering the vari…
Microrefrigeration by normal-metal/ insulator/superconductor tunnel junctions
1997
Abstract A normal-metal/insulator/superconductor (NIS) tunnel junction can be applied to cool electrons by biasing the junction suitably with external voltage. Because of the symmetry with bias voltage, two NIS junctions in series can form an efficient microrefrigerator. So far 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, microrefrigerator must be thermally decoupled from the bulk substrate. We have demonstrated experimentally the reduction of lattice temperature of a few mK at 200 mK by extending the normal electrode on a thin dielectric membrane. Method…
Response time of a thermometer based on normal metal–insulator–superconductor (NIS) tunnel junctions
2003
Abstract We have measured the thermal response of a superconductor–normal metal–superconductor (SINIS) tunnel junction structure at substrate temperature ∼60 mK by directly heating the electron system in the normal metal island. In our structure, we find the response time is determined by the electron–phonon coupling in the electron temperature range 300– 600 mK . By using AC heating, the cut-off frequency caused by this response time has been measured, showing that SINIS structures operate as a thermometer up to a few MHz in this temperature range.
Trapping of quasiparticles of a nonequilibrium superconductor
2000
We have performed experiments where hot electrons are extracted from a normal metal into a superconductor through a tunnel junction. We have measured the cooling performance of such NIS junctions, especially in the cases where another normal metal electrode, a quasiparticle trap, is attached to the superconductor at different distances from the junction in direct metal-to-metal contact or through an oxide barrier. The direct contact at a submicron distance allows superior thermalization of the superconductor. We have analyzed theoretically the heat transport in this system. From both experiment and theory, it appears that NIS junctions can be used as refrigerators at low temperatures only w…
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…
Spatially resolved measurement of nonequilibrium quasiparticle relaxation in superconducting Al
2011
Spatially resolved relaxation of nonequilibrium quasiparticles in a superconductor at ultralow temperatures was experimentally studied. It was found that the quasiparticle injection through a tunnel junction results in the modification of the shape of the I-V characteristic of a remote ``detector'' junction. The effect depends on the temperature, injection current, and proximity to the injector. The phenomena can be understood in terms of the creation of quasiparticle charge and energy disequilibrium characterized by two different length scales ${\ensuremath{\Lambda}}_{{Q}^{*}}~5$ and ${\ensuremath{\Lambda}}_{{T}^{*}}~40$ $\ensuremath{\mu}$m. The findings are in good agreement with existing…
Heavy-fermion superconductivity induced by antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations
2007
Superconductivity is caused by an attractive interaction between electrons at the Fermi level that induces the pairing of time-reversed electron states to Cooper pairs. Conventionally this attractive interaction is mediated by phonons. Theoretically, non-phonon mediated coupling seems to be likely for heavy-fermion superconductors whose low-temperature dynamics is dominated by antiferromagnetic spin correlations. However, evidence for spin-fluctuation coupling has not yet been experimentally observed. One of the most direct methods of investigation of the superconducting state is tunneling spectroscopy. We prepared cross-type tunneling junctions composed of the heavy-fermion superconductor …
Direct measurements of electron thermalization in Coulomb blockade nanothermometers at millikelvin temperatures
1998
Abstract We investigate electron thermalization of tunnel junction arrays installed in a powerful dilution refrigerator whose mixing chamber can produce lattice temperatures down to 3 mK. The on-chip Coulomb blockade thermometers (CBT) against other thermometers at the mixing chamber provide direct information on the thermal equilibrium between the electronic system and the refrigerator. We can detect and discriminate between the heat load delivered through the wiring and that produced by the bias current of the CBT-measurement. The basic heat leak limits the minimum of the electronic temperature to slightly below 20 mK.
Magnetic nanoparticles between electrodes of tunnel junction: anomalous tunnel conductance
2002
Abstract Magnetic particles of microscopic size can be created in the process of Ni, Fe and Co mechanically controllable break junctions fabrication and trapped between the electrodes by magnetic dipole forces. Tunneling between the protruding nanoparticle and the sample electrode shows clear distinctions from the usual junctions: heavy deviation of the current–distance I(z) dependence from the expected exponential behavior at electrode separations z below 4.0– 4.5 A and on numerous occasions a sudden jump-like decrease of the tunnel current at z≈1.5– 2.0 A . Possible mechanisms behind observed anomalies including the short-range magnetic exchange coupling are discussed.