New superconductivity dome in LaFeAsO1−xFx far away from magnetism and accompanied by structural transition

We report on the discovery and novel physics of a new superconductivity dome in LaFeAsO_1?xF_x with high-doping rate (0.25 ≤x≤0.75) synthesized by using the high-pressure technique. The maximal critical temperature T_c = 30 K peaked at x_opt = 0.5 ～0.55, which is even higher than that at x≤ 0.2. By nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), we find that the new superconducting dome is far away from a magnetically ordered phase without low-energy magnetic fluctuations. Instead, NMR and transmission electron microscopy measurements indicate that a C4 rotation symmetry-breaking structural transition takes place for x> 0.5 above T_c. The electrical resistivity shows a temperature-linear behavior around the doping level where the crystal transition temperature extrapolate to zero and T_c is the maximal, suggesting the importance of quantum fluctuations associated with the structural transition. Our results point to a new paradigm of high temperature superconductivity.     

Role of qubit-cavity entanglement for switching dynamics of quantum interfaces in superconductor metamaterials

We study quantum effects of strong driving field applied to dissipative hybrid qubit-cavity system which are relevant for a realization of quantum gates in superconducting quantum metamaterials. We demonstrate that effects of strong and non-stationary drivings have significantly quantum nature and cannot be treated by means of mean-field approximation. This is shown from a comparison of steady state solution of the standard Maxwell–Bloch equations and numerical solution of Lindblad equation on a density matrix. We show that mean-field approach provides very good agreement with the density matrix solution at not very strong drivings f < f* but at f > f* a growing value of quantum correlations between fluctuations in qubit and photon sectors changes a behavior of the system. We show that in regime of non-adiabatic switching on of the driving such a quantum correlations influence a dynamics of qubit and photons even at weak f.     

Mechanism of carrier generation and the origin of the pseudogap and 60 K phases in YBCO

The mechanism of hole carrier generation is considered in the framework of a model assuming the formation of negative U centers (NUCs) in HTSC materials under doping. The calculated dependences of carrier concentration on the doping level and temperature are in quantitative agreement with experiment. An explanation is proposed for the pseudogap and 60 K phases in YBa₂Cu₃O_6+δ. It is assumed that a pseudogap is of superconducting origin and arises at temperature T* > T_c∞ > T_c in small nonpercolating clusters as a result of strong fluctuations in the occupancy of NUCs (T_c∞ and T_c are the superconducting transition temperatures of an infinitely large and finite NUC clusters, respectively). The T*(δ) and T_c(δ) dependences calculated for YBa₂Cu₃O_6+δ correlate with experimental dependences. In accordance with the model, the region between T*(δ) and T_c(δ) is the range of fluctuations in which finite nonpercolation clusters fluctuate between the superconducting and normal states due to NUC occupancy fluctuations.     

Size effects in electrical and magnetic properties of quasi-one-dimensional tin wires in asbestos

Bulk composites have been prepared based on one-dimensional fibers of natural chrisothil-asbestos with various internal diameters (d = 6–2.5 nm) filled with tin. The electrical and magnetic properties of quasi-one-dimensional Sn wires have been studied at low temperatures. The electrical properties have been measured at T = 300 K at a pressure P = 10 kbar. It has been found that the superconducting (SC) characteristics of the nanocomposites (critical temperature T_c and critical magnetic field H_c) increase as the Sn filament diameter decreases. The temperature spreading of the resistive SC transition also increases as the Sn filament diameter decreases, which is explained by the SC order parameter fluctuations. The size effects (the increase in critical temperature T_c and transition width ΔT_c) in Sn nanofilaments are well described by the independent Aslamazov–Larkin and Langer–Ambegaokara fluctuation theories, which makes it possible to find the dependence of T_c of the diffuse SC transition on the nanowire diameter. Using the temperature and magnetic-field dependences of the magnetic moment M(T, H), it has been found that the superconductor–normal metal phase diagram of the Sn–asbestos nanocomposite has a wider region of the SC state in T and H as compared to the data for bulk Sn. The magnetic properties of chrisotil-asbestos fibers unfilled with Sn have been studied. It has been found that the Curie law is fulfilled and that the superparamagnetism is absent in such samples. The obtained results indicate the absence of magnetically ordered impurities (magnetite) in the chrisotil-asbestos matrix, which allowed one to not consider the problem of the interaction of the magnetic subsystem of the asbestos matrix and the superconducting subsystem of Sn nanowires.     

Phase diagram and transport properties of Sb-doped Ca0.88La0.12Fe2As2 single crystals

The effects of isovalent Sb substitution on the superconducting properties of the Ca_0.88La_0.12Fe₂(As_1-ySb_y)₂ system have been studied through electrical resistivity measurements. It is seen that the antiferromagnetic or structural transition is suppressed with Sb content, and a high-T_c superconducting phase, accompanied by a low-T_c phase, emerges at 0.02 ≤ y ≤ 0.06. In this intermediate-doping regime, normal-state transport shows non-Fermi-liquid-like behaviors with nearly T-linear resistivity above the high-T_c phase. With further Sb doping, this high-T_c phase abruptly vanishes for y > 0.06 and the conventional Fermi liquid is restored, while the low-T_c phase remains robust against Sb impurities. The coincidence of the high-T_c phase and non-Fermi liquid transport behaviors in the intermediate Sb-doping regime suggests that AFM fluctuations play an important role in the observed non-Fermi liquid behaviors, which may be intimately related to the unusual nonbulk high-T_c phase in this system.     

Threshold perturbations in current-carrying superconducting bridges with a finite length near the critical temperature

Near the critical temperature of a superconducting transition, the energy of the threshold perturbation δF_thr that transfers a superconducting bridge to a resistive state at a current below the critical current I_c has been determined. It has been shown that δF_thr increases with a decrease in the length of a bridge for short bridges with lengths L < ξ (where ξ is the coherence length) and is saturated for long bridges with L ? ξ. At certain geometrical parameters of banks and bridge, the function δF_thr(L) at the current I → 0 has a minimum at L ~ (2–3)ξ. These results indicate that the effect of fluctuations on Josephson junctions made in the form of short superconducting bridges is reduced and that the effect of fluctuations on bridges with lengths ~(2–3)ξ is enhanced.     

Low-temperature anomalies in the specific heat and thermal conductivity of MgB<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The temperature dependences of the specific heat C(T) and thermal conductivity K(T) of MgB₂ were measured at low temperatures and in the neighborhood of T _c . In addition to the well-known superconducting transition at T _c ≈40 K, this compound was found to exhibit anomalous behavior of both the specific heat and thermal conductivity at lower temperatures, T≈10–12 K. Note that the anomalous behavior of C(T) and K(T) is observed in the same temperature region where MgB₂ was found to undergo negative thermal expansion. All the observed low-temperature anomalies are assigned to the existence in MgB₂ of a second group of carriers and its transition to the superconducting state at T_c2≈10?12 K.     

Conditions for implementation of the superconducting phase of copper oxides with consideration of three-site interactions and spin fluctuations

The concentration dependence of the transition temperature to the superconducting phase is calculated within the t – t' – t" – J* model, which takes into account tree-site interactions. It is shown that the processes of scattering by spin fluctuations qualitatively change the character of the concentration dependences T _c (n). These scattering processes in the normal phase significantly modify the distribution function of Hubbard fermions, determining the pronounced non-Fermi-liquid behavior of the system.     

Enhancement of superconductivity in disordered films by parallel magnetic field

We show that the superconducting transition temperature T _c (H) of a very thin highly disordered film with strong spin-orbital scattering can be increased by a parallel magnetic field H. This effect is due to the polarization of magnetic impurity spins, which reduces the full exchange scattering rate of electrons; the largest effect is predicted for spin-1/2 impurities. Moreover, for some range of magnetic impurity concentrations, the phenomenon of superconductivity induced by magnetic field is predicted: the superconducting transition temperature T _c (H) is found to be nonzero in the range of magnetic fields 0 < H* ≤ H ≤ H _c .     

Superconductivity and metal-insulator transition in Cu(Ir<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Rh<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>)<Subscript>2</Subscript>S<Subscript>4</Subscript>

A new thiospinel CuIr₂S₄ exhibits a metal-insulator (M-I) transition at 226 K, while CuRh₂S₄ shows a superconducting transition at 4.70 K. We present a systematic study of electrical and magnetic properties of Cu(Ir_1?x Rh _x )₂S₄. TheM-I transition of CuIr₂S₄ is accompanied by a structural phase transition from tetragonal symmetry in insulating phase to cubic symmetry in high temperature metallic phase. With increasing Rh contentx, the sharpM-I transition shifts to lower temperature forx≦0.10. The samples show semiconductive behavior for 0.10≦0.30 between 4.2 and 300 K, and recover the metallic state forx≧0.50. The superconducting transition may occur for very close tox=1.00. Magnetic susceptibility shows the jump at theM-I transition temperature and the variation ofx leads to a systematic change of the magnetic susceptibilities, which is consistent with the electrical characteristic feature.     

Hall coefficient in heavy fermion metals

Experimental studies of the antiferromagnetic (AF) heavy fermion metal YbRh₂Si₂ in a magnetic field B indicate the presence of a jump in the Hall coefficient at a magnetic-field tuned quantum state in the zero temperature limit. This quantum state occurs at B ≥ B_c0 and induces the jump even though the change of the magnetic field at B = B_c0 is infinitesimal. We investigated this by using the model of heavy electron liquid with the fermion condensate. Within this model, the jump takes place when the magnetic field reaches the critical value B_c0 at which the ordering temperature T_N(B = B_c0) of the AF transition vanishes. We show that at B → B_c0, this second order AF phase transition becomes the first order one, making the corresponding quantum and thermal critical fluctuations vanish at the jump. At T → 0 and B = B_c0 the Grüneisen ratio as a function of the temperature T diverges. We demonstrate that both the divergence and the jump are determined by the specific low temperature behavior of the entropy \(S(T) \propto S_0 + a\sqrt T + bT\) with S₀; a and b are temperature independent constants.     

The electron energy spectrum and superconducting transition temperature of strongly correlated fermions with three-center interactions

The renormalizations of the fermionic spectrum are considered within the framework of the t-J* model taking into account three-center interactions (H₍₃₎) and magnetic fluctuations. Self-consistent spin dynamics equations for strongly correlated fermions with three-center interactions were obtained to calculate quasi-spin correlators. A numerical self-consistent solution to a system of ten equations was obtained to show that, in the nearest-neighbor approximation, simultaneously including H₍₃₎ and magnetic fluctuations at n>n₁ (n₁ ≈ 0.72 for 2t/U = 0.25) caused qualitative changes in the structure of the energy spectrum. A new Van Hove singularity is then induced in the density of states, and an additional maximum appears in the T_c(n) concentration dependence of the temperature of the transition to the superconducting phase with order parameter symmetry of the d _x ²?y² type.     

Phase transitions in hybrid SFS structures with thin superconducting layers

Features of a phase transition between 0 and π states in superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor (SFS) Josephson structures with thin superconducting layers and a ferromagnetic barrier are studied experimentally and theoretically. The dependence of the critical temperature T_c of a transition of the hybrid structure to a superconducting state on the thickness of superconducting layers d_s is analyzed by a local method involving measurements of the nonlinear microwave response of the system by a near-field probe. An anomalous increase in the measured temperature T_c at the reduction of the thickness d_s is detected and is attributed to the 0-π transition.     

Effect of incommensurate potential on the resonant tunneling through Majorana bound states on the topological superconductor chains

We study the transport through the Kitaev chain with incommensurate potentials coupled to two normal leads by the numerical operator method. We find a quantized linear conductance of e ² / h, which is independent to the disorder strength and the gate voltage in a wide range, signaling the Majorana bound states. While the incommensurate potential suppresses the current at finite voltage bias, and then narrows the linear response regime of the I-V curve which exhibits two plateaus corresponding to the superconducting gap and the band edge, respectively. The linear conductance abruptly drops to zero as the disorder strength reaches the critical value 2g _s + 2Δ with Δ the p-wave pairing amplitude and g _s the hopping between neighbor sites, corresponding to the transition from the topological superconducting phase to the Anderson localized phase. Changing the gate voltage also causes an abrupt drop of the linear conductance by driving the chain into the topologically trivial superconducting phase, whose I-V curve exhibits an exponential shape.     

Voltage plateaus on <Emphasis Type="Italic">V</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">I</Emphasis>) curves of long quasi-one-dimensional superconducting wires (without microwave irradiation)

Segments of an almost constant voltage (plateaus) on the V(I) curves of long quasi-one-dimensional superconducting aluminum wires placed in a magnetic field are found slightly below T _c, which are unexpected at the parameters and geometry considered in this work. These plateaus are assumingly attributed to subharmonics of the superconducting gap and are due to multiple Andreev reflection and strong quasiparticle heating, which occur in the nonequilibrium region of a wire. The plateaus indicate the coexistence of superconductivity and dissipation in these wires. These results cannot be described by the existing theories.     

Electronic Structure and Magnetic Phase Transition in Helicoidal Fe<Subscript>1 - <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Co<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Si Ferromagnets

LSDA + U + SO calculations of the electronic structure of helicoidal Fe_{1 - x}Co _x Si ferromagnets within the virtual crystal approximation have been supplemented with the consideration of the Dzyaloshinski-Moriya interaction and ferromagnetic fluctuations of the spin density of collective d electrons with the Hubbard interactions at Fe and Co atoms randomly distributed over sites. The magnetic-state equation in the developed model describes helicoidal ferromagnetism and its disappearance accompanied by the occurrence of a maximum of uniform magnetic susceptibility at temperature T _C and chiral fluctuations of the local magnetization at T > T _C . The reasons why the magnetic contribution to the specific heat at the magnetic phase transition changes monotonically and the volume coefficient of thermal expansion (VCTE) at low temperatures is negative and has a wide minimum near T _C have been investigated. It is shown that the VCTE changes sign when passing to the paramagnetic state (at temperature T _S ).     

Rapid viscous flow of a nematic liquid crystal in the vicinity of the nematic-smectic <Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis> transition

The resistance to shear flow is investigated theoretically for polar liquid crystals, such as 4-n-octyl-4′-and 4-n-octyloxy-4′-cyanobiphenyls. It is established that the lowest resistance to shear flow at temperatures in the vicinity of the nematic-smectic A phase transition point T _NA is observed when the nematic director is oriented perpendicular to both the flow velocity vector and the flow velocity gradient. The three Miesowicz shear viscosity coefficients η_i (i=1–3) at temperatures close to the phase transition temperature (tens of millikelvins from T _NA ) and far from this transition are calculated in the framework of the Ericksen-Leslie theory. The decrease in the viscosity coefficients in the order η₂>η₁>η ₃ is explained by the fact that fluctuations of the local smectic order in the nematic phase lead to a singular behavior of the viscosity coefficient η₂, whereas the other two viscosity coefficients η₁ and η₃ are not affected by order parameter fluctuations.     

Phase transitions in a MgB<Subscript>2</Subscript> granular BCS superconductor in weak magnetic fields

The character of temperature dependences of the electric conductivity of MgB₂ granular BCS superconductors at temperatures of ~35–45 K in external magnetic fields H _ext of up to ~2 kOe is studied. An increase in the superconducting transition width ΔT _c with an increase in Hext is found. The presence of a system of weak links in MgB₂-based granular superconductors is established. On the basis of experimental data, MgB₂ granular superconductor is assigned to two-level superconducting systems and the H–T phase diagram is constructed.     

Phase transitions and vortex structure evolution in two-level high-temperature granular superconductor YBa<Subscript>2</Subscript>Cu<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>7 – δ</Subscript> under temperature and magnetic field

Temperature dependences of the resistivity ρ(T) of samples of granular high-temperature superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O_{7 – δ} are measured at various transverse external magnetic fields at 0 < H _ext < 1900 Оe in the temperature range from the upper Josephson critical temperature of “weak bonds” T _c2J to temperatures slightly exceeding the superconducting transition temperature T _c . Based on the data obtained, the behavior of the field dependences of the critical temperatures of superconducting grains and “weak bonds,” and temperature and field dependences of the magnetic contribution to the resistivity \(\left[ {\Delta \rho \left( {T,H} \right) = \rho {{\left( T \right)}_{{H_{ext}} = const}} - \rho {{\left( T \right)}_{{H_{ext}} = 0}}} \right]\). It is shown that the behavior of the magnetic contribution to the resistivity Δρ along the line of the phase transition related to the onset of the magnetic field penetration in the form of Abrikosov vortices into the subsystem of superconducting grains T _c1g (H _ext) is anomalous. The concepts on the magnetic flux redistribution between both subsystems of two-level HTSC near in the vicinity of T _c1g : the Josephson vortex decreases, and the Abrikosov vortex density increases.     

Asymmetry with respect to the magnetic field direction in the interaction between the quantum states of two coupled superconducting rings

The interaction between the quantum states of two circularly asymmetric superconducting aluminum rings forming figure eight, threaded by a magnetic flux and biased by an external sinusoidal ac current with zero dc component, has been investigated. Quantum oscillations in the dependence V _dc(B) of the rectified dc voltage on magnetic field for these structures have been measured at different external currents and temperatures close to critical. Fourier and wavelet analyses of the function V _dc(B) have revealed, along with the two fundamental ring frequencies, various combination frequencies; this fact is indicative of interaction in the structure. Deviation of the function V _dc(B) from oddness with respect to the magnetic field direction has been found for the first time.