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.     

Magnetic interference patterns and vortices in diffusive SNS junctions

We study theoretically the electronic and transport properties of a diffusive superconductor-normal metal-superconductor junction in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. We show that the field dependence of the critical current crosses over from the well-known Fraunhofer pattern in wide junctions to a monotonic decay when the width of the normal wire is smaller than the magnetic length xi(H)=square root Phi(0)/H, where H is the magnetic field and Phi(0) the flux quantum. We demonstrate that this behavior is a direct consequence of the magnetic vortex structure appearing in the normal region and predict how this structure is manifested in the local density of states.     

Advanced development of TFA-MOD coated conductors

American Superconductor is manufacturing 2G wire for initial commercial applications. The 2G wire properties satisfy the requirements for these initial projects; however, improvements in the critical current, field performance and cost are required to address the broad range of potential commercial and military applications. In order to meet the anticipated the performance and cost requirements, AMSC’s R&D effort is focused on two major areas: (1) higher critical current and (2) enhanced flux pinning.AMSC’s current 2G production wire, designed around a 0.8 μm thick YBCO layer deposited by a Metal Organic Deposition (MOD) process, carries a critical current in the range of 200–300 A/cm-w (77 K, sf). Achieving higher critical current requires increasing the thickness of the YBCO layer. This paper describes recent progress at AMSC on increasing the critical current of MOD-YBCO films using processes compatible with low-cost, high-rate manufacturing.     

Global Stability of the Normal State of Superconductors in the Presence of a Strong Electric Current

We consider the time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau model of superconductivity in the presence of an electric current flowing through a two-dimensional wire. We show that when the current is sufficiently strong the solution converges in the long-time limit to the normal state. We provide two types of upper bounds for the critical current where such global stability is achieved: by using the principal eigenvalue of the magnetic Laplacian associated with the normal magnetic field, and through the norm of the resolvent of the linearized steady-state operator. In the latter case we estimate the resolvent norm in large domains by the norms of approximate operators defined on the plane and the half-plane. We also obtain a lower bound, in large domains, for the above critical current by obtaining the current for which the normal state looses its local stability.     

Current Collection by a Long Wire in Near-Earth Orbit

Investigation of the current collected by a long wire in space has application to long antennas and the proposed space shuttle tethered subsatellite. Langmuir's result for current collection by a moving probe in a plasma is used to obtain expressions for the voltage and current as functions of position along a wire. Two cases are considered: firstly, one end of the wire is grounded to the plasma and secondly, the wire is allowed to assume a natural grounding point. Results are obtained as a function of the wire resistivity, length and diameter for various particle densities. Calculations for a 2mm diameter copper wire show that a current of 0.066 amperes of oxygen ions will be collected by a tether of 10 km in length.     

Molecular wires acting as coherent quantum ratchets

The effect of laser fields on electron transport through a molecular wire weakly coupled to two leads is investigated. The molecular wire acts as a coherent quantum ratchet if the molecule is composed of periodically arranged, asymmetric chemical groups. This setup presents a quantum rectifier with a finite dc response in the absence of a static bias. The nonlinear current is evaluated in closed form within the Floquet basis of the isolated, driven wire. The current response reveals multiple current reversals together with a nonlinear dependence on the amplitude and the frequency of the laser field. The current saturates for long wires at a nonzero value, while it may change sign upon decreasing its length.     

Andreev reflections and magnetoresistance in ferromagnet-superconductor mesoscopic structures

An analysis is made of the change in the resistance of a nanostructure consisting of a diffusive ferromagnetic (F) wire and normal metal electrodes, due to the onset of superconductivity (S) in the normal electrode and Andreev scattering processes. The superconducting transition results in an additional contact resistance arising from the necessity to match the spin-polarized current in the F-wire to the spinless current in the S reservoir, which is comparable to the resistance of a piece of F wire with length equal to the spin relaxation length. It is also shown that in the absence of spin relaxation the resistance of a two-domain structure is the same for a ferro-or antiferromagnetic configuration if one electrode is in the superconducting state. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 69, No. 7, 497–502 (10 April 1999) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Josephson Effect in FS/I/N/I/FS Tunnel Junctions

The Bogoliubov de Gennes equation is applied to the study ofcoherence effects in the ferromagnetic superconductor/insulator/normalmetal/insulator/ferromagnetic/superconductor (FS/I/N/I/FS) junction. We calculated the Josephson current in FS/I/N/I/FS as a function of exchange field in ferromagnetic superconductor, temperature, and normal metal thickness. It is found that the Josephson critical current in FS/I/N/I/FS exhibits oscillations as a function of the length of normal metal. The exchange field always suppresses the Josephson critical current I_p for a parallel configuration of the magnetic moments of two ferromagnetic superconductor (FS) electrodes. In the antiparallel configuration, the Josephson critical current I_Ap at the minimum values of oscillation increases with the exchange field for strong barrier strength and at low temperatures.     

铜丝水中电爆炸能量沉积特性

对s脉冲电压作用下铜丝水中电爆炸的能量沉积过程进行了实验研究,利用自积分Rogowski线圈和电阻分压器分别测量铜丝电爆炸时的电流和电压。利用测量电压波形确定了熔融起始、熔融结束、汽化起始和击穿时刻点,将铜丝电爆炸划分成熔融、液态和汽化3个阶段。通过数学方法计算了3个阶段和击穿前的沉积总能量。通过实验和计算,分析了电路参数,包括放电电压和回路电感,以及铜丝特性,包括铜丝长度和直径,对铜丝电爆炸过程中3个阶段和击穿前沉积总能量的影响。结果表明:在s脉冲电压作用下,放电电压、回路电感、铜丝长度和直径对熔融阶段能量沉积影响较小,但对液态和汽化阶段能量沉积影响较大,通过调节电路参数提高电流上升速率,可以显著提高汽化和击穿前的沉积能量。     

Breakdown of one-parameter scaling in quantum critical scenarios for high-temperature copper-oxide superconductors

We show that if the excitations which become gapless at a quantum critical point also carry the electrical current, then a resistivity linear in temperature, as is observed in the copper-oxide high-temperature superconductors, obtains only if the dynamical exponent z satisfies the unphysical constraint, z < 0. At fault here is the universal scaling hypothesis that, at a continuous phase transition, the only relevant length scale is the correlation length. Consequently, either the electrical current in the normal state of the cuprates is carried by degrees of freedom which do not undergo a quantum phase transition, or quantum critical scenarios must forgo this basic scaling hypothesis and demand that more than a single-correlation length scale is necessary to model transport in the cuprates.     

Gain in the stability of NbTi composite superconductor doped by large-heat-capacity substance Gd<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>2</Subscript>S

The effect of internal doping of a NbTi composite wire by a large-heat-capacity substance (Gd₂O₂S ceramics) on the critical currents and stability against short thermal disturbances (with a typical time on the order of 1 ms) is studied experimentally and theoretically. The composite wire studied in this work is similar in design to conductors used in the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER). The additive introduced into the wire in an amount of 5 vol % raises its specific heat ninefold at 4.2 K. It is found that the critical current of the (NbTi + Gd₂O₂S) wire increases by 8–11% in comparison with a reference NbTi wire depending on the external magnetic field varying between 5 and 7 T. Although the potential of high specific heat is not utilized completely, the critical thermal energies of the doped wires are three to four times higher than those of the undoped (reference) wires at near-critical currents.     

The observation of sonic range velocities of normal zone propagation in high current density superconductor

The sonic range velocities of normal zone propagation in high current density superconductor were observed. The experimental results were obtained on samples of 0.16–0.11 mm thickness of a monofilamentary NbTi wire with critical current density J_c about 10⁶ A/cm². The s→n change of the sample sections was recorded after the normal zone stimulation by the magnetic field impulse. The voltage increasing speed reached 1.5×10⁷ V/s, and the normal zone propagation velocity exceeded 5±1 km/s. This high velocity can be caused by the detonation-like propagation of normal phase in superconductor with high current density.     

Minimization of Ohmic losses for domain wall motion in a ferromagnetic nanowire

We study current-induced domain-wall motion in a narrow ferromagnetic wire. We propose a way to move domain walls with a resonant time-dependent current which dramatically decreases the Ohmic losses in the wire and allows driving of the domain wall with higher speed without burning the wire. For any domain-wall velocity we find the time dependence of the current needed to minimize the Ohmic losses. Below a critical domain-wall velocity specified by the parameters of the wire the minimal Ohmic losses are achieved by dc current. Furthermore, we identify the wire parameters for which the losses reduction from its dc value is the most dramatic.     

Appearance of fractional charge in the noise of nonchiral Luttinger liquids

The current noise of a voltage biased interacting quantum wire adiabatically connected to metallic leads is computed in the presence of an impurity in the wire. We find that in the weak backscattering limit the Fano factor characterizing the ratio between noise and backscattered current crucially depends on the noise frequency omega relative to the ballistic frequency vF/gL, where vF is the Fermi velocity, g is the Luttinger liquid interaction parameter, and L is the length of the wire. In contrast to chiral Luttinger liquids the noise is not only due to the Poissonian backscattering of fractionally charged quasiparticles at the impurity, but it also depends on Andreev-type reflections at the contacts, so that the frequency dependence of the noise needs to be analyzed to extract the fractional charge e*=eg of the bulk excitations.     

非晶丝端部磁场效应的模拟

实验表明,不同长度的非晶丝以及非晶丝端部不同的位置都具有不同的磁特性.为了研究这种端部磁场效应,基于磁荷分布的假设,采用数值计算方法获得了非晶丝端部的磁场分布.然后,基于数值计算结果,采用拟合方法获得非晶丝内部磁场分布的一般性计算形式.由于非晶丝内部磁场强度不可能超出外磁场强度,提出由中间的均匀磁区以及两端的入磁区和出磁区所构成的非晶丝三磁区模型,并由此获得端部磁场效应的临界长度计算公式.该理论模型对端部磁场效应的模拟计算结果与已有实验现象能够符合很好.     

1.5 T关节磁共振成像超导磁体的设计、制作与测试

磁共振成像(magnetic resonance imaging,MRI)是当今世界上最先进的医学影像技术之一,现阶段MRI技术正朝着成像质量更清晰、功能更强大、效率更高、个体化更强的趋势发展.与全身MRI设备相比,专科型MRI设备具有体积小、重量轻、成本低、病人舒适度高、成像质量高、功能更强等优点.但是关节专用超导MRI系统需要长度方向上被严格限制的超导磁体在160 mm直径球域(diameter sphere volume,DSV)内产生高均匀度的磁场.本文综合考虑了超导线用量、中心磁感应强度和成像区磁场不均匀度等因素,使用0-1规划和遗传算法相结合的方法设计了一种非屏蔽型1.5 T关节MRI超导磁体,该磁体的室温孔径为280 mm,总长度为520 mm,液氦量为30 L,载流区最大磁场为5.48 T,5高斯线范围为径向3.2 m、轴向2.6 m,160 mm DSV的磁场不均匀度设计值为22 ppm,考虑加工误差及冷缩因素,磁体加工完成并经过被动匀场后的预估值为60 ppm.经过绕制、固化、组装、焊接等工序,该磁体已制作完成.经过3次锻炼后成功励磁到1.5 T,经过被动匀场后160 mm DSV的磁场不均匀度达到50 ppm,各项指标均达到设计目标.     

Bi-2212超导线材研究进展

Bi-2212高温超导材料在高磁场中具有优异的磁场载流能力,可制备成各向同性圆线,可以绞制成大电流的电缆导体,是大型强磁场磁体的首选材料之一.经过30多年的发展,Bi-2212超导线材的临界工程电流密度(JE)也已达到工程应用要求.综述了国内外近年来Bi-2212超导材料在载流性能、绝缘、内插线圈和热处理等方面的研究进...     

铝单丝Z箍缩形成无核冕结构的物理分析

针对铝单丝Z箍缩负载,计算其可形成金属蒸气而不形成核冕等离子体的电路和负载参数范围。提出了铝丝电爆炸形成金属蒸气的能量沉积判据和击穿电压判据;建立了热动力学模型,选取电路参数使得金属丝气化时放电回路电流恰好迅速下降,从而避免发生电压击穿。计算了典型电路下的负载电流、电压、电阻及沉积能量的变化曲线,并分析了回路总电感、充电电压以及负载丝长度、直径对其的影响规律。计算结果表明:当储能电容为150pF、充电电压为65kV、回路电感为300nH时,可驱动直径20μm、长2cm的铝丝电爆炸形成铝丝蒸气。快电流前沿、小丝直径和较短的丝长度有助于提高负载中的单位质量沉积能量,容易电爆炸形成金属蒸气负载。     

Planar Gradient Coil Design Using L1 and L2 Norms

We present a novel and general formulation for the optimisation of gradient coils, wherein the minimization of the conductor length and the simplicity of construction are two of the main design parameters. The bi-planar gradient coils are intended to be part of a new compact neonatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner based on a 0.35 T permanent magnet. It is shown that minimizing the current density vector is equivalent to minimizing the wire length. The gradient coil design involves a convex optimization method where the Euclidian and Manhattan norms of the current density vector are minimized under the field linearity, wire width, force and shielding constraints. The design problem is solved iteratively in order to include the influence of the magnetization of the pole and iron ring over the gradient field linearity. A suite of gradient coils using both norms and resistance minimization are designed and their performances are compared. Gradient coils designed using Euclidian norm show shorter wire length and slightly better performance than that designed using Manhattan norms; however, the presence of straight wires in the current pattern is very convenient for manufacturing purpose.