Macroscopic coherent rectification in Andreev interferometers

We investigate nonlinear transport through quantum coherent metallic conductors contacted to superconducting components. We find that in certain geometries, the presence of superconductivity generates a large, finite-average rectification effect. Specializing to Andreev interferometers, we show that the direction and magnitude of rectification can be controlled by a magnetic flux tuning the superconducting phase difference at two contacts. In particular, this results in the breakdown of an Onsager reciprocity relation at finite bias. The rectification current is macroscopic in that it scales with the linear conductance, and we find that it exceeds 5% of the linear current at sub-gap biases of a few tens of microelectronvolts.     

Circuit theory for crossed Andreev reflection and nonlocal conductance

Nonlocal currents, in devices where two normal-metal terminals are contacted to a superconductor, are determined using the circuit theory of mesoscopic superconductivity. We calculate the conductance associated with crossed Andreev reflection and electron transfer between the two normal-metal terminals, in addition to the conductance from direct Andreev reflection and quasiparticle tunneling. Dephasing and proximity effect are taken into account. PACS 74.45.+c, 74.25.Fy, 73.23.-b     

Suppression of Andreev conductance in a topological insulator–superconductor nanostep junction

When two three-dimensional topological insulators(TIs) are brought close to each other with their surfaces aligned,the surfaces form a line junction. Similarly, three TI surfaces, not lying in a single plane, can form an atomic-scale nanostep junction. In this paper, Andreev reflection in a TI–TI–superconductor nanostep junction is investigated theoretically. Because of the existence of edge states along each line junction, the conductance for a nanostep junction is suppressed. When the incident energy(ε) of an electron is larger than the superconductor gap(?), the Andreev conductance in a step junction is less than unity while for a plane junction it is unity. The Andreev conductance is found to depend on the height of the step junction. The Andreev conductance exhibits oscillatory behavior as a function of the junction height with the amplitude of the oscillations remaining unchanged when ε = 0, but decreasing for ε = ?, which is different from the case of the plane junction. The height of the step is therefore an important parameter for Andreev reflection in nanostep junctions, and plays a role similar to that of the delta potential barrier in normal metal–superconductor plane junctions.     

Fano-type resonances induced by a boson mode in Andreev conductance

We study spectroscopic signatures of a monochromatic boson mode interacting with a T-shape double quantum dot coupled between the metallic and superconducting leads.Focusing on a weak interdot coupling,we find that the proximity effect together with the bosonic mode are responsible for the series of Fano-type resonances appearing simultaneously at negative and positive energies.We investigate these interferometric features and discuss their influence on the subgap Andreev conductance taking into account the correlation effects driven by the Coulomb repulsion.     

Thermal conductance of thin silicon nanowires

The thermal conductance of individual single crystalline silicon nanowires with diameters less than 30 nm has been measured from 20 to 100 K. The observed thermal conductance shows unusual linear temperature dependence at low temperatures, as opposed to the T3 dependence predicted by the conventional phonon transport model. In contrast to previous models, the present study suggests that phonon-boundary scattering is highly frequency dependent, and ranges from nearly ballistic to completely diffusive, which can explain the unexpected linear temperature dependence.     

Thermal conductance of ballistic point contacts

We study the thermal conductance of ballistic point contacts. These contacts are realized as few nanometer long pillars in so-called air-gap heterostructures (AGHs). The pillar length is orders of magnitude smaller than the mean free path of the phonons up to room temperature. Because of the small dimension and the low density of the pillars, the thermal conductance of the AGHs is several orders of magnitude reduced in comparison to bulk structures. The measurement results are in quantitative agreement with a simple model that is based on the Boltzmann transport equation.     

Thermal noise computation in gravitational wave interferometers from first principles

We propose a universal method of computation of thermal noise in mirrors of gravitational wave interferometers based on first principles. We imagine a situation where a mirror is part of a Fabry–Perot cavity. The movement of the mirror's surface produces variation of the eigen frequency of the cavity, which is computed by evaluating the variation of the energy stored in cavity. We consider two particular examples: first, the thermal noise from a dielectric slab inside the Fabry–Perot cavity, and second, the polarization-dependent thermal noise in the folded cavity.     

Phase transitions in the distribution of the Andreev conductance of superconductor-metal junctions with multiple transverse modes

We compute analytically the full distribution of Andreev conductance G(NS) of a metal-superconductor interface with a large number N(c) of transverse modes, using a random matrix approach. The probability distribution P(G(NS),N(c) in the limit of large N(c) displays a Gaussian behavior near the average value =(2-√2)N(c) and asymmetric power-law tails in the two limits of very small and very large G(NS). In addition, we find a novel third regime sandwiched between the central Gaussian peak and the power-law tail for large G(NS). Weakly nonanalytic points separate these four regimes-these are shown to be consequences of three phase transitions in an associated Coulomb gas problem.     

Thermal conductance of hydrophilic and hydrophobic interfaces

Using time-domain thermoreflectance, we have measured the transport of thermally excited vibrational energy across planar interfaces between water and solids that have been chemically functionalized with a self-assembled monolayer (SAM). The Kapitza length--i.e., the thermal conductivity of water divided by the thermal conductance per unit area of the interface--is analogous to the "slip length" for water flowing tangentially past a solid surface. We find that the Kapitza length at hydrophobic interfaces (10-12 nm) is a factor of 2-3 larger than the Kapitza length at hydrophilic interfaces (3-6 nm). If a vapor layer is present at the hydrophobic interface, and this vapor layer has a thermal conductivity that is comparable to bulk water vapor, then our experimental results constrain the thickness of the vapor layer to be less than 0.25 nm.     

Thermal conductance in a two-slit quantum waveguide

Using the scattering-matrix method, we investigate the thermal conductance in a two-slit quantum waveguide at low temperature. The results show that the total thermal conductance decreases monotonically with temperature increasing. Moreover, we find that the behaviours of the thermal conductance versus temperature are different for different types of slits.     

Thermal conductance for single wall carbon nanotubes

We report a theoretical analysis of the phonon thermal conductance, κ(T), for single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCN). In a range of low temperatues up to 100 K, κ(T) of perfect SWCN is found to increase with temperature, approximately, in a parabolic fashion. This is qualitatively consistent with recent experimental measurements where the tube-tube interactions are negligibly weak. When the carbon-carbon bond length is slightly varied, κ(T) is found to be qualitatively unaltered which implies that the anharmonic effect does not change the qualitative behavior of κ(T). Received 12 June 2001     

Thermal conductance in quantum wire with two obstacles

Based on the scattering-matrix method, the influence of obstacles on the thermal conductance in quantum wire was investigated. Three types of obstacles are employed in our calculation. We present a detailed study of the thermal conductance as a function of distance between two obstacles and temperature. The results show that there is qualitative difference in the dependence of the thermal conductance versus width between two obstacles for different temperatures. We also find that the calculated thermal conductance increases with the width W of quantum wire in all cases.     

Andreev level qubit

We investigate the dynamics of a two-level Andreev bound state system in a transmissive quantum point contact embedded in an rf SQUID. Coherent coupling of the Andreev levels to the circulating supercurrent allows manipulation and readout of the level states. The two-level Hamiltonian for the Andreev levels is derived, and the effect of interaction with the quantum fluctuations of the induced flux is studied. We also consider an inductive coupling of qubits and discuss the relevant SQUID parameters for qubit operation and readout.     

Second-harmonic interferometers II

Experiments on interferometers based on second harmonic generation of light are described. These make use of the distortions of phase and amplitude produced by the phase mismatch of angle-matched crystals to provide information. The interferometers are directly sensitive to small wavefront tilts and do not require additional reference wavefronts.     

Thermal conductance of nanofluids: is the controversy over?

Over the last decade nanofluids (colloidal suspensions of solid nanoparticles) sparked excitement as well as controversy. In particular, a number of researches reported dramatic increases of thermal conductivity with small nanoparticle loading, while others showed moderate increases consistent with the effective medium theories on well-dispersed conductive spheres. Accordingly, the mechanism of thermal conductivity enhancement is a hotly debated topic. We present a critical analysis of the experimental data in terms of the potential mechanisms and show that, by accounting for linear particle aggregation, the well established effective medium theories for composite materials are capable of explaining the vast majority of the reported data without resorting to novel mechanisms such as Brownian motion induced nanoconvection, liquid layering at the interface, or near-field radiation. However, particle aggregation required to significantly enhance thermal conductivity, also increases fluid viscosity rendering the benefit of nanofluids to flow based cooling applications questionable.     

Crossed Andreev reflection-induced magnetoresistance

We show that very large negative magnetoresistance can be obtained in magnetic trilayers in a current-in-plane geometry owing to the existence of crossed Andreev reflection. This spin valve consists of a thin superconducting film sandwiched between two ferromagnetic layers whose magnetization is allowed to be either parallelly or antiparallelly aligned. For a suitable choice of structure parameters and nearly fully spin-polarized ferromagnets, the magnetoresistance can exceed -80%. Our results are relevant for the design and implementation of spintronic devices exploiting ferromagnet-superconductor structures.