First and second order quantum phase transitions in multi-band superconductors

In multi-band and inter-metallic materials superconductivity can be destroyed by applying external pressure in these systems. In many cases the critical temperature is driven continuously to zero, the superconducting to normal transition being associated with a superconducting quantum critical point (SQCP). In this paper we propose a model for this type of SQCP based on the increase of hybridization as pressure is applied in the material. We study a two-band superconductor with hybridization V between these bands. We use a BCS approximation and include both inter- and intra-band attractive interactions. We show that for negligible inter-band interactions, as hybridization increases there is a second order phase transition from a superconductor to a normal state at zero temperature at a critical value of the hybridization V_c. This SQCP can be reached by pressure, since this external parameter controls hybridization in the system. We also find discontinuous transitions at zero temperature and the appearance of a gapless superconducting (GS) phase in a certain range of hybridization in the case of inter-band interactions being dominant.     

Length-scale dependent superconductor-insulator quantum phase transitions in one dimension

We study the dissipation physics of a one dimensional mesoscopic superconducting quantum interference device array using the field-theoretical renormalization group method. We observe length scale dependent, superconductor-insulator quantum phase transition at very low temperature and also observe the dual behavior of the system for higher and lower values of magnetic field. At a critical magnetic field, we also observe a critical behavior where the resistance is independent of length.     

Quantitative test of SO(5) symmetry in the vortex state of Nd(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO4

By numerically solving models with competing superconducting and antiferromagnetic orders, we study the magnetic field dependence of the antiferromagnetic moment in both the weak and strong field regimes. Through a comparison with the neutron scattering results of Kang et al. and Matsuura et al. on Nd(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO4, we conclude that this system is close to a SO(5) symmetric critical point. We also make a quantitative prediction on increasing the upper critical field B(c2) and the superconducting transition temperature T(c) by applying an in-plane magnetic field.     

From semiconductors to superconductors: a simple model for pseudogaps

We consider a two-dimensional semiconductor with a local attraction among the carriers. We study the ground state of this system as a function of the semiconductor gap. We find a direct transition from a superconducting to an insulating phase for no doping at a critical value, the single particle excitations being always gapped. For finite doping we find a smooth crossover. We calculate the critical temperature due to both the particle excitations and the Berezinkii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. Received 8 December 1998     

用于ITER的NbTi超导股线临界电流测试方法

介绍了一种用于ITER的NbTi超导股线在不同温度下临界电流测试的方法和装置。该装置包括一孔径为70mm、最高磁场高达16T的背景磁体以及变温杜瓦等系统。对NbTi超导线变温测试设计了二元电流引线。用该系统得到了其NbTi超导股线在不同磁场不同温度下的临界电流,用“Luca”定标律拟合了测试结果,并对测试结果进行了分析。     

Aharonov-Bohm effect in the superconducting LOFF state

We study the Aharonov-Bohm oscillations of the transition temperature, paraconductivity, and specific heat of a thin ring in the regime of the inhomogeneous Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell superconducting state. We found that, in contrast to the uniform superconductivity, the magnetic flux might increase the critical temperature of the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell state. The degeneracy of the inhomogeneous superconducting state reveals in a double peak structure of the Aharonov-Bohm oscillations. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Pressure-induced enhancement of the superconducting properties of single-crystalline FeTe0.5Se0.5

The pressure dependence, up to 11.3 kbar, of basic parameters of the superconducting state, such as the critical temperature (T(c)), the lower and the upper critical fields, the coherence length, the penetration depth, and their anisotropy, was determined from magnetic measurements performed for two single-crystalline samples of FeTe(0.5)Se(0.5). We have found pressure-induced enhancement of all of the superconducting state properties, which entails a growth of the density of superconducting carriers. However, we noticed a more pronounced increase in the superconducting carrier density under pressure than that in the critical temperature which may indicate an appearance of a mechanism limiting the increase of T(c) with pressure. We have observed that the critical current density increases under pressure by at least one order of magnitude.     

Strong magnetic fluctuations in a superconducting state of CeCoIn5

We show results on the vortex core dissipation through current-voltage measurements under applied pressure and magnetic field in the superconducting phase of CeCoIn{5}. We find that as soon as the system becomes superconducting, the vortex core resistivity increases sharply as the temperature and magnetic field decrease. The sharp increase in flux-flow resistivity is due to quasiparticle scattering on critical antiferromagnetic fluctuations. The strength of magnetic fluctuations below the superconducting transition suggests that magnetism is complementary to superconductivity and therefore must be considered in order to fully account for the low-temperature properties of CeCoIn{5}.     

Thermodynamic properties of the superconductivity in quasi-two-dimensional Dirac electronic systems

The thermodynamic properties of superconducting Dirac electronic systems is analyzed in the vicinity of quantum critical point. The system is characterized by a quantum critical point at zero doping, such that the critical temperature vanishes below some finite value of interaction strength. It is found that the specific heat jump of the system largely deviates from the conventional BCS theory value in the vicinity of quantum critical point. We investigated the region of applicability of the mean-field theory using the Ginzburg-Landau functional.     

Universal conductance of nanowires near the superconductor-metal quantum transition

We consider wires near a zero temperature transition between superconducting and metallic states. The critical theory obeys hyperscaling, which leads to a universal frequency, temperature, and length dependence of the conductance; quantum and thermal phase slips are contained within this critical theory. Normal, superconducting, and mixed (SN) leads on the wire determine distinct universality classes. For the SN case, wires near the critical point have a universal dc conductance which is independent of the length of the wire at low temperatures.     

Thermodynamical properties of a superconducting quantum cylinder

The thermodynamical potential of a superconducting quantum cylinder is calculated. The dependence of the critical temperature and the heat capacity of a superconducting system of the surface concentration of electrons and on the radius of the nanotube is studied.     

Experimental evidence for a collective insulating state in two-dimensional superconductors

We present the results of an experimental study of the current-voltage characteristics in a strong magnetic field (B) of disordered, superconducting, thin films of amorphous indium oxide. As the B strength is increased superconductivity degrades, until a critical field (B(c)) where the system is forced into an insulating state. We show that the differential conductance measured in the insulating phase vanishes abruptly below a well-defined temperature, resulting in a clear threshold for conduction. Our results indicate that a new collective state emerges in two-dimensional superconductors at high B.     

In situ grown epitaxial YBa2Cu3O7 − x thin films by pulsed laser deposition under reduced oxygen pressure during cool-down time

We report novel pulsed laser deposition conditions that were used to obtain superconducting epitaxial YBCO thin films, grown in situ using an oxygen pressure lower than the usual one during the cool-down time. We studied the influence of the PLD conditions as substrate temperature, oxygen pressure, laser fluence, and number of laser pulses on the crystallographic and morphological features, and on the superconducting properties of the films. Good superconducting properties were obtained without a high temperature post-deposition annealing process. A maximum critical temperature of 88.6 K was obtained.     

Theory of superconductivity for Dirac electrons in graphene

Phonon-exchange-induced superconducting pairing of effectively ultrarelativistic electrons in graphene is investigated. The Eliashberg equation obtained for describing pairing in the Cooper channel with allowance for delayed interaction are matrix equations with indices corresponding to the valence and conduction bands. The equations are solved in the high doping limit, in which pairing is effectively a single-band process, and in the vicinity of a critical quantum point of underdoped graphene for a value of the coupling constant for which pairing is an essentially multiband process. For such cases, analytic estimates are obtained for the superconducting transition temperature of the system. It is shown that the inclusion of dynamic effects makes it possible to determine the superconducting transition temperature, as well as the critical coupling constant for underdoped graphene, more accurately than in the static approximation of the BCS type. Estimates of the constants of electron interaction with the scalar optical phonon mode in graphene indicate that an appreciable superconducting transition temperature can be attained under a high chemical doping level of graphene.     

Inhomogeneous superconductivity in organic conductors: the role of disorder and magnetic field

Several experimental studies have shown the presence of spatially inhomogeneous phase coexistence of superconducting and non-superconducting domains in low dimensional organic superconductors. The superconducting properties of these systems are found to be strongly dependent on the amount of disorder introduced in the sample regardless of its origin. The suppression of the superconducting transition temperature T(c) shows a clear discrepancy with the result expected from the Abrikosov-Gor'kov law giving the behavior of T(c) with impurities. On the basis of the time dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, we derive a model to account for this striking feature of T(c) in organic superconductors for different types of disorder by considering the segregated texture of the system. We show that the calculated T(c) quantitatively agrees with experiments. We also focus on the effect of superconducting fluctuations on the upper critical fields H(c2) of layered superconductors showing slab structure where superconducting domains are sandwiched by non-superconducting regions. We found that H(c2) may be strongly enhanced by such fluctuations.     

Charged Vortices in an Abelian Higgs Model with Chern-Simons Term at Finite Temperature

Charged vortex solutions are found iri a (2+1)-dimensional Abelian Higgs model with Chern- Simons term at finite temperature. It is shown that there exists a finite critical temperature at which vortices disappear and it implies that the system changes fiom superconducting state to normal state at this critical temperature.     

Spectral signatures of critical charge and spin fluctuations in cuprates

We discuss how Raman spectra of high temperature superconducting cuprates are affected by nearly critical spin and charge collective modes, which are coupled to charge carriers near a stripe quantum critical point. We find that specific fingerprints of nearly critical collective modes can be observed and that the selectivity of Raman spectroscopy in momentum space may be exploited to distinguish the spin and charge contribution. We apply our results to discuss the spectra of high-T_c superconducting cuprates finding that the collective modes should have masses with substantial temperature dependence in agreement with their nearly critical character. Moreover spin modes have larger masses and are more diffusive than charge modes indicating that in stripes the charge is nearly ordered, while spin modes are strongly overdamped and fluctuating with high frequency.     

超导的光子云机制

根据超导的电磁力作用量子—光子,提出光子云、光子云电子对概念,根据光电效应原理建立起超导的光子云机制。讨论、计算了零点能、基态能隙与临界温度的关系、金属Hg的临界温度等,经比较与实验相近,揭示了寻找高温超导的一个新方向。     

Critical voltage of a mesoscopic superconductor

We study the influence of a voltage-driven nonequilibrium of quasiparticles on the properties of short mesoscopic superconducting wires. We employ a numerical calculation based upon the Usadel equation. Going beyond linear response, we find a nonthermal energy distribution of the quasiparticles caused by the applied bias voltage. It is demonstrated that this nonequilibrium drives the system from the superconducting state to the normal state, at a current density far below the critical depairing current density.     

Non-Fermi-liquid behavior and d-wave superconductivity near the charge-density-wave quantum critical point

A scenario is presented, in which the presence of a quantum critical point due to formation of incommensurate charge density waves accounts for the basic features of the high temperature superconducting cuprates, both in the normal and in the superconducting states. Specifically, the singular interaction arising close to this charge-driven quantum critical point gives rise to the non-Fermi liquid behavior universally found at optimal doping. This interaction is also responsible for d-wave Cooper pair formation with a superconducting critical temperature strongly dependent on doping in the overdoped region and with a plateau in the optimally doped region. In the underdoped region a temperature dependent pairing potential favors local pair formation without superconducting coherence, with a peculiar temperature dependence of the pseudogap and a non-trivial relation between the pairing temperature and the gap itself. This last property is in good qualitative agreement with so far unexplained features of the experiments.