Andreev scattering and cotunneling between two superconductor-normal metal interfaces: the dirty limit

Crossed Andreev reflections and cotunneling occur between two neighbouring superconductor- normal metal or superconducting-ferromagnet interfaces. Previous works assumed a clean BCS superconductor. Here the calculation of the corresponding crossed conductance terms is generalized to a dirty superconductor. The range of the effect is shown to be the coherence length , instead of the BCS coherence length . Moreover, in three dimensions, the algebraic prefactor scales as 1/r instead of 1/r ². The calculation involves the virtual diffusion probability of quasiparticles below the superconducting gap, in the normal and the anomalous channel.Received: 10 October 2003, Published online: 23 December 2003PACS: 74.45. + c Proximity effects; Andreev effect; SN and SNS junctions - 73.63.Rt Nanoscale contacts - 74.78.-w Superconducting films and low-dimensional structures     

Anomalous density of states in hybrid normal metal-superconductor bilayers

In contact with a superconductor, the Andreev reflection of the electrons locally modifies the N metal electronic properties, including the local density of states (LDOS). We investigated the LDOS in superconductor-normal metal (Nb-Au) bilayers using a very low temperature (60 mK) STM on the normal metal side. High resolution tunneling spectra measured on the Au surface show a clear proximity effect with an energy gap of reduced amplitude compared to the bulk Nb gap. The dependence of this mini-gap width with the normal metal thickness is discussed in terms of the Thouless energy. Within the mini-gap, the density of states does not reach zero and shows clear sub-gap features. We compare the experimental spectra with the well-established quasi-classical theory.     

Manifestly non-Gaussian fluctuations in superconductor-normal metal tunnel nanostructures

We propose a mesoscopic setup which exhibits strong and manifestly non-Gaussian fluctuations of energy and temperature when suitably driven out of equilibrium. The setup consists of a normal metal island (N) coupled by tunnel junctions (I) to two superconducting leads (S), forming a SINIS structure, and is biased near the threshold voltage for quasiparticle tunneling, eV≈2Δ. The fluctuations can be measured by monitoring the time-dependent electric current through the system. This makes the setup suitable for the realization of feedback schemes which can be used to stabilize the temperature to the desired value.     

Local density of states of a three-dimensional conductor in the extreme quantum limit

The electronic structure of the narrow gap semiconductor InAs is investigated by scanning tunneling spectroscopy and magnetotransport measurements in the extreme quantum limit. The well-known oscillations of the Hall coefficient are reproduced and the last, most pronounced oscillation is shown to be correlated with the appearance of corrugations in the local density of states. While the increasing part of the Hall constant corresponds to the existence of isolated patterns indicating magnetic field induced localization, the decreasing part correlates with the development of a network which most likely consists of one-dimensional channels. We conclude that the decrease of the Hall constant in the extreme quantum limit is caused by a transition from a purely three-dimensional to a partly one-dimensional transport regime.     

Subgap collective tunneling and its staircase structure in charge density waves

Tunneling spectra of chain materials NbSe3 and TaS3 were studied in nanoscale mesa devices. Current-voltage I-V characteristics related to all charge density waves (CDWs) reveal universal spectra within the normally forbidden region of low V, below the electronic CDW gap 2Delta. The tunneling always demonstrates a threshold Vt approximately 0.2Delta, followed, for both CDWs in NbSe3, by a staircase fine structure. T dependencies of Vt(T) and Delta(T) scale together for each CDW, while the low T values Vt(0) correlate with the CDWs' transition temperatures Tp. Fine structures of CDWs perfectly coincide when scaled along V/Delta. The results evidence the sequential entering of CDW vortices (dislocations) in the junction area with the tunneling current concentrated in their cores. The subgap tunneling proceeds via the phase channel: coherent phase slips at neighboring chains.     

Photon assisted tunneling in superconductor-normal metal point contacts at far-infrared frequencies

The response of normal metal-superconductor point contacts to radiation at frequencies up to 2.5 THz is studied experimentally. The results can be analyzed in terms of the so called Photon Assisted Tunneling (PAT) effect and are in excellent agreement with recent theoretical predictions.     

Joint density of states and charge density wave in 2H-structured transition metal dichalcogenides

The joint density of states of two different 2H-structured transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with and without charge density wave (CDW), Na_0.05TaS₂ and Cu_0.09NbS₂, respectively, are compared. While there is a clear maximum at the 3×3 charge density wavevector for Na_0.05TaS₂, the joint density of states for Cu_0.09NbS₂ does not show such behavior, consistent with the absence of CDW in the system. Our results illustrate that the joint density of states well represents the charge instability in 2D systems.     

Trends in the density of states of hydrogen chemisorbed on the transition metal series

Extensive many-body calculations of the ground state properties of hydrogen chemisorbed on all 3d, 4d and 5d transition metal surfaces are performed. The trends of the location E_p of the discrete level under the bottom of the d-band are presented. It is found that, on going to the right of the series, E_p approaches the bottom of the d-band, eventually merges in it and detaches again from it for the last elements of the series.     

Triplet cooper pairing in nuclear matter and rotational states of superdeformed nuclei

One hundred and sixty-one rotational bands of superdeformed states in nuclei are considered on the basis of a model that admits triplet Cooper pairing in superfluid nuclear matter. The behavior of the dynamical moment of inertia for such states is investigated within this model, which is shown to comply well with available experimental data and to describe successfully the rotational spectra of superdeformed states.     

The transition temperature of CuCr/Pb proximity sandwiches in the cooper limit

The temperature dependence of the conduction electron spin-flip lifetime in CuCr Kondo alloys can be determined from T_c measurements in CuCr/Pb proximity sandwiches. When the thin film sandwich is in the Cooper limit, a great sensitivity of the magnetic depairing effect upon T_c is observed. The temperature dependence of the calculated pair breaking parameter deviates markedly from the theoretical predictions.     

Ubiquitous V-shape density of states in a mixed state of clean limit type II superconductors

It is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally that the low energy density of states N(E) is described by a singular V-shape form N(E)=N(0)(H)+alpha|E|+O(E2) for all clean superconductors in a vortex state, irrespective of the underlying gap structure. The linear term alpha|E| which has not been recognized so far is obtained by exactly evaluating the vortex contribution. Based on microscopic Eilenberger theory N(E) is evaluated for the isotropic gap, line, and point-node gaps to yield a V-shape N(E). Scanning tunneling spectroscopy-STM experiments on NbSe2 and YNi2B2C give direct evidence for this. We provide arguments on the significance of this finding and on the relevance to other experiments.     

On the adiabatic limit of Hadamard states

We consider the adiabatic limit of Hadamard states for free quantum Klein–Gordon fields, when the background metric and the field mass are slowly varied from their initial to final values. If the Klein–Gordon field stays massive, we prove that the adiabatic limit of the initial vacuum state is the (final) vacuum state, by extending to the symplectic framework the adiabatic theorem of Avron–Seiler–Yaffe. In cases when only the field mass is varied, using an abstract version of the mode decomposition method we can also consider the case when the initial or final mass vanishes, and the initial state is either a thermal state or a more general Hadamard state.     

Ising model in the high density limit

It is proved that the free energy per spin in the thermodynamic limit of an Ising model on a lattice with coordination numberz approaches the classical Curie-Weiss free energy in the limitz→∞. The infinite spacial dimension limit of nearest neighbour lattice models is a special case of this result.     

Markovian evolution of Gaussian states in the semiclassical limit

We derive an approximate Gaussian solution of the Lindblad equation in the semiclassical limit, given a general Hamiltonian and linear coupling with the environment. The theory is carried out in the chord representation and describes the evolved quantum characteristic function, which gives direct access to the Wigner function and the position representation of the density operator by Fourier transforms. The propagation is based on a system of non-linear equations taking place in a double phase space, which coincides with Heller's theory of unitary evolution of Gaussian wave packets when the Lindbladian part is zero. The example of a double well is worked out.     

Fluctuations of the local density of states probe localized surface plasmons on disordered metal films

We measure the statistical distribution of the local density of optical states (LDOS) on disordered semicontinuous metal films. We show that LDOS fluctuations exhibit a maximum in a regime where fractal clusters dominate the film surface. These large fluctuations are a signature of surface-plasmon localization on the nanometer scale.