Superconducting strings

It is known that certain spontaneously broken gauge theories give rise to stable strings or vortex lines. In this paper it is shown that under certain conditions such strings behave like superconducting wires whose passage through astrophysical magnetic fields would generate a variety of striking and perhaps observable effects. The superconducting charge carriers may be either bosons (if a charged Higgs field has an expectation value in the core of the string) or fermions (if charged fermions are trapped in zero modes along the string, as is known to occur in certain circumstances). They might be observable as synchrotron sources or as sources of high-energy cosmic rays. If the charge carriers are ordinary quarks and leptons, the strings have important baryon number violating interactions with magnetic fields; such a string, traversing a galactic magnetic field of 10^?6 G, creates baryons (or antibaryons) at a rate of order 10¹² particles/cm of string per second.     

Superconducting Wigglers

In low- and medium-energy storage rings for synchrotron radiation (SR) production, it is necessary to use high-performance insertion devices (IDs) in order to meet the increasing demand for high X-ray flux to perform life science and material science, since the maximum beam energy and beam current cannot be changed in storage rings without major rebuilds of the accelerator systems.     

Superconducting spin filter

Consider two normal leads coupled to a superconductor; the first lead is biased while the second one and the superconductor are grounded. In general, a finite current I₂(V₁, 0) is induced in grounded lead 2; its magnitude depends on the competition between processes of Andreev and normal quasiparticle transmission from lead 1 to lead 2. It is known that, in the tunneling limit, when normal leads are weakly coupled to the superconductor, I₂(V₁, 0)=0 if |V₁|<Δ, and the system is in the clean limit. In other words, Andreev and normal tunneling processes compensate each other. We consider the general case: the voltages are below the gap, the system is either dirty or clean. It is shown that I₂(V₁, 0)=0 for general configuration of the normal leads; if the first lead injects spin-polarized current then I₂=0, but spin current in lead 2 is finite. A XISIN structure, where X is a source of the spin-polarized current, could be applied as a filter separating spin current from charge current. We do an analytical progress calculating I₁(V₁, V₂), I₂(V₁, V₂).     

Superconducting quantum bits

Superconducting quantum bits(qubits) and circuits are the leading candidate for the implementation of solid-state quantum computation. They have also been widely used in a variety of studies of quantum physics, atomic physics, quantum optics, and quantum simulation. In this article, we will present an overview of the basic principles of the superconducting qubits, including the phase, flux, charge, and transmon(Xmon) qubits, and the progress achieved so far concerning the improvements of the device design and quantum coherence property. Experimental studies in various research fields using the superconducting qubits and circuits will be briefly reviewed.     

Superconducting quark matter

In asymptotically dense quark matter, colored glue forces cause an unusual variant of superconductivity. Instead of pairing, the quarks clump in groups of six. We investigate the gap equation in the weak coupling limit, and find the leading behavior of the energy gap and the critical temperature as functions of the renormalized coupling constant.     

Superconducting quantum point contacts

We review our experiments on the electronic transport properties of atomic contacts between metallic electrodes, in particular superconducting ones. Despite ignorance of the exact atomic configuration, these ultimate quantum point contacts can be manipulated and well characterized in-situ. They allow performing fundamental tests of the scattering theory of quantum transport. In particular, we discuss the case of the Josephson effect.     

Superconducting triplet spin valve

We study the critical temperature T _c of SFF trilayers (S is a singlet superconductor, F is a ferromagnetic metal), where the long-range triplet superconducting component is generated at noncollinear magnetizations of the F layers. We demonstrate that T _c can be a nonmonotonic function of the angle α between the magnetizations of the two F layers. The minimum is achieved at an intermediate α, lying between the parallel (P, α = 0) and antiparallel (AP, α = π) cases. This implies a possibility of a “triplet” spin-valve effect: at temperatures above the minimum T _c ^Tr but below T _c ^P and T _c ^AP, the system is superconducting only in the vicinity of the collinear orientations. At certain parameters, we predict a reentrant T _c (α) behavior. At the same time, considering only the P and AP orientations, we find that both the “standard” (T _c ^P < T _c ^AP) and “inverse” (T _c ^P > T _c ^AP) switching effects are possible depending on parameters of the system.     

Superconducting detectors in astronomy

Radiation detectors based on superconducting phenomena are becoming increasingly important for observational astronomy. Recent developments in this important field, together with relevant background, are described here. After a general introduction to superconductivity and the field of superconductor-based radiation sensors, the main detector types are examined with regard to their physical form, operating principles and principal advantages. All major forms of superconducting detectors used in contemporary research such as tunnelling detectors, mixers, hot-electron bolometers and transition edge sensitive devices are discussed with an emphasis on how more recent developments are overcoming the shortcomings of the previous device generations. Also, discussed are new ideas in superconducting detector technology that may find applications in the coming years.     

Superconducting subterahertz fast nanoswitch

A superconducting thin-film nanoswitch for the subterahertz frequency range has been proposed, developed, fabricated, and tested. The switch makes it possible to modulate the microwave signal or switch it between two branches of a circuit with low losses and high speed. The switch can be naturally integrated with superconducting high-sensitive detectors. Its application makes it possible to avoid the use of massive slow mechanical modulators and to improve the measurement accuracy in decisive astrophysical experiments such as the investigation of the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background.     

Superconducting tetrahedral quantum bits

We propose a design for a qubit with four superconducting islands in the topology of a symmetric tetrahedron, uniformly frustrated with one-half flux quantum per loop and one-half Cooper pair per island. This structure emulates a noise-resistant spin-1/2 system in a vanishing magnetic field. The flux frustration boosts quantum fluctuations and relieves the constraints on junction fabrication. Variability of manipulation and optimized readout are additional benefits of this design.     

Superconducting tunneling in PdH

Tunneling measurements have been made on superconducting PdH films. The measured2Δ₀/kT_c ratio was 3.80 ± 0.15 meV. Structure was found in the tunneling density of states at an energy of 48 ± 2 meV, approximately the energy of optic phonons in PdH.     

Integrated Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Receivers

We overview recent achievements in the field of cryogenic submillimeter-wave receivers based on superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) tunnel junctions. The main attention is paid to the novel superconducting integrated receivers (SIRs) with an on-chip superconducting local oscillator. The single-chip microcircuit of the receiver, which integrates a quantum mixer based on the nonlinearity of a quasi-particle current in the SIS junction, a planar superconducting receiving antenna, and a cryogenic local oscillator, is described. Being dc-powered only by batteries, such a microcircuit operates as a submillimeter-wave superheterodyne receiver without any additional microwave equipment. Such receivers are very attractive for radioastronomical research, space communication systems, and monitoring of the environment from satellites, balloons, and special aircraft. A breadboard of a superconducting spectrometer with a phase-locked flux-flow oscillator (FFO) has been developed and tested. A frequency resolution better than 10 kHz was reached at a frequency of 365 GHz. We describe a balloon-borne 500-650 GHz integrated spectrometer for oblique atmospheric sounding, developed for the international Terahertz Limb Sounder (TELIS) project. The first flight is scheduled for 2005.     

超导量子干涉器件

超导现象是一种宏观量子现象.磁通量子化和约瑟夫森效应是两个最能体现这种宏观量子特性的物理现象.超导量子干涉器件(superconducting quantum interference device,SQUID)是利用这两个特性而形成的超导器件.SQUID器件在磁信号灵敏探测方面具有广泛的应用.本文简要介绍低温超导和高温超导SQUID器件的相关背景和发展现状以及应用领域.     

超导太赫兹天线耦合微测辐射热检测器

超导太赫兹天线耦合微测辐射热检测器具备探测频段宽、响应速度快、灵敏度高、易于阵列化等特点因而具备广阔的应用前景.本文的主要工作是设计并微纳加工出基于氮化铌薄膜的超导器件,针对所制备器件的关键参数进行了表征.测试结果显示,当浴冷温度为4K 时,器件响应时间为4μs,噪声等效功率达到30fW/Hz0.5.基于所制备的器件进行了陶瓷刀被动扫描成像实验并取得了良好的成像效果     

稳恒超导载流态正常─超导界面层的作用

研究了稳恒超导载流态条件下 ,正常超导界面层对超导载流子的作用。指出在正常超导界面层内存在着“类感应电场力”,其本质上是束缚电子对所受 Lorentz力沿超导体对称轴线的分量之和。在“类感应电场力”的作用下 ,束缚电子对质心定向运动速度由零增大到 1 0 3 - 1 0 4 ms- 1,使超导电流的熵小于正常电流的熵。正常超导界面层是熵变区。     

Entanglement and Mixedness of a Superconducting Qubit Coupled to an Open Superconducting Cavity

We investigate entanglement and mixedness of a superconducting qubit coupled to the damped cavity field. We introduce a new measure for the mixedness and find that the phase damping of the cavity leads to simultaneous long-death of the entropy squeezing, the purity of the qubit states, and the entanglement of the field–qubit system.     

一种用于电阻型超导限流器新型结构的第二代高温超导带材

电阻型超导故障限流器(R-SFCL)结构简单、限流效果好等优点,在电力系统中具有广阔的应用前景.超导故障限流器的发展经历了实验级、配电级、输电级样机研制等阶段.随着超导限流器容量不断攀升,由于单根材料性能的限制,不可避免在系统中会采用大量的串并联方式.带材的临界电流和耐瞬态冲击能力决定着一个限流器在额定电流通流下和过流冲击下的并联支路数.带材的失超电阻决定着一个限流器在一定故障电流抑制率下的串联支路数.通过分析目前REBCO超导带材的参数和典型的限流器设计参数,发现了超导带材电流和耐过流冲击相差近3倍的关系.本文提出了一种宽的不锈钢封装窄的超导带结构,目的是让不锈钢的宽度与超导带材的宽度保持在3倍的关系,以贴合部分限流器的需求.经过测试,结果显示低成本新结构的超导带材瓶颈性能保有原结构带材的91.3%,成本下降一半,这对未来电阻型超导限流器成本的降低来说是一个非常好的选项.     

Superconducting state in strong coupling

We consider the behavior of the critical temperature in the limit of strong electron-phonon coupling. The peculiar behavior of the order parameter in this limit allows one to evaluate T_c analytically and directly from Eliashberg's equation. We also consider the effect of Coulomb interaction and the contribution of low phonon modes, the role of lattice instabilities and the relative contribution of phonon and non-phonon interactions.