Intervortex quasiparticle tunneling and the electronic structure of multivortex configurations in type-II superconductors

The electronic spectrum of multivortex configurations in type-II superconductors is studied taking into account the effect of quasiparticle tunneling between the vortex cores. The tunneling is responsible for the formation of strongly coupled quasiparticle states for intervortex distances a < a _cc , where the critical distance a _c is of the order of several coherence lengths ξ. When analyzing the resulting spectra of vortex clusters bonded by quasiparticle tunneling, we find a transition from a set of degenerate Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon branches to anomalous branches similar to the ones in multiquantum giant vortices. This spectrum transformation results in the oscillatory behavior of the density of states at the Fermi level as a function of a and could be observed in mesoscopic superconductors and disordered flux line arrays in bulk systems. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Fermion zero modes in symmetric vortices in superfluid He

Fermions localized within vortex cores are considered for the simplest most symmetric vortices in the superfluid phases of ³He. Axisymmetric vortices in the A, A₁ and planar phases contain the fermionic condensate with a completely flat band and zero energy. The o-vortex in the B-phase contains 1D Fermi liquids, formed by fermions occupying the branches which cross the zero level. The number of such Fermi liquids increases with increasing external magnetic field. The fermionic spectrum in this vortex is described by the “orbital” and spin momenta interacting with the effective internal magnetic field produced by the vortex and with the external field. Most of the information is obtained using the vortex symmetry which determines symmetry properties of the fermionic spectrum.     

Microscopic Theory of Pinning of Multiquantum Vortex in Cylindrical Cavity

We have proposed and developed a microscopic model of depinning (escape) of a multiquantum vortex in a superconductor with a cylindrical nonconducting cavity with the transverse size smaller than or on the order of the superconducting coherence length ξ₀ at zero temperature. The spectrum of subgap quasiparticle excitations in two- and three-quantum vortices trapped by a cylindrical cavity has been calculated in the quasiclassical approximation. It is shown that the transformation of the spectrum is accompanied by break of anomalous spectral branches due to normal reflection of quasiparticles from the surface of a defect. A microscopic (spectral) criterion for multiquantum vortex pinning has been proposed; according to this criterion, the multiquantum vortex can be trapped in the cavity during the formation of a minigap in the elementary excitation spectrum near the Fermi level. Self-consistent calculations of density of states N(r, ε) for two- and three-quantum vortices trapped by a cylindrical cavity of radius on the order of ξ₀ have been performed using quasiclassical Eilenberger equations. In the pure limit and for low temperatures T ? T _c , peculiarities observed in the N(r, ε) distribution reflect the presence of M anomalous spectral branches in the M-quantum vortex and confirm the correctness of the spectral criterion of pinning (depinning) of a multiquantum vortex.     

Energy spectra and angular distribution of projectile-like fragments in 84 MeV <Superscript>12</Superscript>C + <Superscript>169</Superscript>Tm

Kinetic-energy spectra and angular distribution of projectile-like fragments have been measured in the reaction of 84 MeV ¹²C on ¹⁶⁹Tm, using the surface barrier silicon-based ΔE-E telescopes. The fragments close to the projectile show typical spectra of quasi-elastic transfer reactions, which were found to be in agreement with the calculations based on the direct surface transfer reaction model. A significant cross-section of fast alpha-particles was found at forward angles, reminiscent of incomplete fusion reactions, which could be explained in terms of the direct surface transfer reaction model after taking into account the level density of continuum states in the heavy reaction product. The results have been explained in terms of the continuous evolution of the reaction mechanism as a function of the mass transfer. Received: 13 March 2002 / Accepted: 3 May 2002     

The muon capture in <Superscript>16</Superscript>O: the angular and polarization correlations

Longitudinal polarization of the daughter nuclei ¹⁶N which arises in μ⁻ capture on ¹⁶O as a function of the recoil angle, together with the angular distribution and the alignment of the recoil nucleus are calculated. The neutrinos born escape mainly along the muon spin. The polarization is found to vary from zero (recoil momentum counter to the muon spin direction) up to 50% (along the muon spin direction). The results can be applied to the experimental tests of T conservation, to the analysis of the projects of constructing the powerful mono-energetic neutrino sources, to the experimental study of the pseudo-scalar form factor and the K-electron capture, and to other spin-polarization correlation experiments.     

Comment on vortex mass and quantum tunneling of vortices

Vortex mass in Fermi superfluids and superconductors and its influence on quantum tunneling of vortices are discussed. The vortex mass is essentially enhanced due to the fermion zero modes in the core of the vortex: the bound states of the Bogoliubov quasiparticles localized in the core. These bound states form the normal component, which is nonzero even in the low-temperature limit. In the collisionless regime ω ₀ τ≫1 the normal component trapped by the vortex is unbound from the normal component in a bulk superfluid/superconductor and adds to the inertial mass of the moving vortex. In a d-wave superconductor the vortex mass has an additional factor of (B _c2/B)^1/2 due to the gap nodes. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 2, 201–206 (25 January 1997) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Electronic structure of half-metallic ferromagnet Co<Subscript>2</Subscript>MnSi at high-pressure

In this study, first principles calculation results of the half-metallic ferromagnetic Heusler compound Co₂MnSi are presented. All calculations are based on the spin-polarized generalized gradient approximation (σ-GGA) of the density functional theory and ultrasoft pseudopotentials with plane wave basis. Electronic structure of related compound in cubic L2₁ structure is investigated up to 95 GPa uniform hydrostatic pressure. The half-metal to metal transition was observed around ~70 GPa together with downward shift of the conduction band minimum (CBM) and a linear increase of direct band gap of minority spins at Γ-point with increasing pressure. The electronic density of states of minority spins at Fermi level, which are mainly due to the cobalt atoms, become remarkable with increasing pressure resulting a sharp decrease in spin polarization ratio. It can be stated that the pressure affects minority spin states rather than that of majority spins and lead to a slight reconstruction of minority spin states which lie below the Fermi level. In particular, energy band gap of minority spin states in equilibrium structure is obviously not destroyed, but the Fermi level is shifted outside the gap.     

Fermion zero modes at the boundary of superfluid <Superscript>3</Superscript>He-B

Superfluid ³He-B belongs to the important special class of time-reversal invariant topological superfluids. It has Majorana fermions as edge states on the surface of bulk ³He-B. On the rough wall these fermion zero modes have finite density of states at E = 0. It is possible that Lancaster experiments with a wire vibrating in ³He-B have already probed Majorana fermions living on the surface of the wire.     

Nuclear level densities in <Superscript>47</Superscript>V, <Superscript>48</Superscript>V, <Superscript>49</Superscript>V, <Superscript>53</Superscript>Mn,and <Superscript>54</Superscript>Mn from neutron evaporation spectra

The spectra of neutrons from the (p, n) reactions on ⁴⁷Ti, ⁴⁸Ti, ⁴⁹Ti, ⁵³Cr, and ⁵⁴Cr nuclei were measured in the proton-energy range 7–11 MeV. The measurements were performed with the aid of a fast-neutron spectrometer by the time-of-flight method over the base of the EGP-15 tandem accelerator of the Institute for Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE, Obninsk). Owing to a high resolution and a high stability of the time-of-flight spectrometer used, low-lying discrete levels could be identified reliably along with a continuum section of neutron spectra. An analysis of measured data was performed within the statistical equilibrium and preequilibrium models of nuclear reactions. The relevant calculations were performed by using the exact formalism of Hauser-Feshbach statistical theory supplemented with the generalized model of a superfluid nucleus, the back-shifted Fermi gas model, and the Gilbert-Cameron composite formula for the nuclear level density. The nuclear level densities for ⁴⁷V, ⁴⁸V, ⁴⁹V, ⁵³Mn, and ⁵⁴Mn were determined along with their energy dependences and model parameters. The results are discussed together with available experimental data and recommendations of model systematics.     

Fermi points and the Nambu sum rule in the polar phase of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He

We discuss the polar phase of ³He, which is realized in the anisotropic aerogel. We consider it in the framework of the BCS model. In the absence of the spin–orbit interaction, this model predicts the appearance of the Fermi line. However, it is topologically unstable. We demonstrate that the spin–orbit interaction gives rise to the appearance of the two Fermi points instead of the Fermi line. In addition to the gapless Nambu–Goldstone bosons in this system the collective gapped bosonic states exist. Their gaps are calculated, and the corresponding Nambu sum rule is established.     

Annihilation of quantized vortex lines in rotating<Superscript>3</Superscript>He-A

The maximum number of vortex lines at a given angular velocity Ω is obtained during deceleration when vortices annihilate at the wall of the container. The width of the vortex-free region in the decelerated state has been measured by cw NMR for vortex lines with singular and continuous core structures. It corresponds to the limit of stability of peripheral vortices for single and double quantization respectively.     

Vortex mutual friction in rotating superfluid<Superscript>3</Superscript>He

The Manchester rotating cryostat has been used to measure the longitudinal and transverse coefficients of vortex mutual friction in the A and B phases of superfluid³He. In the B phase the dominant contribution to the mutual friction is scattering of excitations off occupied bound states in the vortex core. The A phase results are explained quantitatively by assuming that doubly quantised continuous vortices are created with a dynamics determined by the equation of motion of the orbital vectorI; the measurements enable us to put an upper limit on the orbital inertia of less than 0.01h per Cooper pair. History-dependent textural effects which had to be overcome in order to make meaningful measurements in the A phase are explained by noting that for a given rotation direction the most stable vortices can be formed more easily from one direction of uniformI texture than the other.     

Fast-electron ejection from C,Ni, Ag and Au foils by <Superscript>36</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">Ar</Emphasis><Superscript>18 + </Superscript> (95 MeV/u): Measurements of absolute cross-sections

Doubly differential electron velocity spectra induced by ³⁶Ar^{18 +} (95 MeV/u) from thin target foils (C, Ni, Ag, Au) were measured at GANIL (Caen, France) by means of the ARGOS multidetector and the time-of-flight technique. The main features observed in the forward spectra are convoy electrons, binary-encounter electrons, and (for the Au target only) a high-velocity tail which we attribute to a Fermi shuttle acceleration mechanism. Backward spectra do not show distinct structures. The spectra allow us to determine absolute singly differential cross-sections as a function of the target material and the emission angle. The convoy electron yield increases with the target atomic number, but for C their yield is so small that our experiment is not able to detect them. Absolute doubly differential cross-sections for binary-encounter electron ejection from C targets are well described by a transport theory which is based on the relativistic electron impact approximation (EIA) for electron production and which accounts for angular deflection, energy loss and energy straggling of the transmitted electrons.Received: 1 July 2003, Revised: 15 December 2003, Published online: 13 July 2004PACS: 34.50.Fa Electronic excitation and ionization of atoms (including beam-foil excitation and ionization) - 79.20.Rf Atomic, molecular, and ion beam impact and interactions with surfaces - 25.70.-z Low and intermediate energy heavy-ion reactions     

Effect of magnetic impurities in chiral <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-wave superconducting nanoloops

The effect of many magnetic impurities in symmetric chiral p-wave superconducting nanoloops is investigated by numerically solving the BdG equations self-consistently. Two magnetic impurities can lead to the appearance of two impurity bound levels close to the Fermi level. The arising bound states can cross the Fermi level at the same impurity strength for the case of two independent midway impurities, while multiple zero-energy states can be obtained at two separated values of impurity strength when two independent edge impurities are present. Moreover, the multiple zero modes can only show up for appropriate relative positions between two edge impurities due to the quantum interference effect. Particularly, for some appropriate strength of two independent midway impurities, the impurity bound levels cross the Fermi level twice with increasing threaded flux, while the multiple zero modes can not emerge in the flux evolution.     

Multiple particle break-up study of low excited states in <Superscript>9</Superscript>Be: The ghost peak in the <Superscript>8</Superscript>Be excitation energy spectrum visited

The aim of this work is to find out the origin of the anomalous resonance in ⁸Be seen in the reactions through excited states in ⁹Be. We have populated the ⁹Be excited states by β-decay of ⁹Li. Energy and direction of the two α particles has been detected and the neutron spectra reconstructed. In our work we identified the “anomalous resonance" in ⁸Be observed in several reaction studies as coming from the decay of the 2.43 and 2.78 MeV states in ⁹Be. This anomalous resonance appears when the two detected α particles are assumed to form a resonance in ⁸Be. We argued that the main decaying channels for these two levels in ⁹Be do not involve ⁸Be.     

Microscopic interpretation of the (<Emphasis Type="Italic">t</Emphasis>, <Superscript>3</Superscript>He) reaction at 130 MeV on <Superscript>90</Superscript>Zr and isovector monopole strength

The 130-MeV primary tritium beam of the AGOR facility with an intensity of up to 10⁸ pps and the Big Bite Spectrometer experimental setup have been used to study the (t, ³He) reaction between 0° and 5° lab angles on ¹²C and ⁹⁰Zr targets. The standard ray-tracing procedure has allowed us to obtain excitation-energy spectra up to 30 MeV in six angular bins for each residual nucleus, with an average energy resolution of 350 keV. We have used the DWBA reaction mechanism model to reproduce those spectra and their angular distributions. In this approximation, the form factor was treated as a folding of an effective projectile-nucleon interaction with a transition density. The effective projectile-nucleon interaction has been adjusted to reproduce the 0° cross section of the 1⁺ ground state of ¹²B populated in the ¹²C(t, ³He) reaction. We have employed RPA wave functions of excited states to construct the form factors. This DWBA+RPA analysis is used to compare calculated and experimental cross sections directly and to discuss the giant resonance excitations in the ⁹⁰Y nucleus. In this talk, we give some details on this analysis. We show that there are important contributions of L = 2 transitions in the observed cross sections for the 1⁺ final states that explain the previous difficulties in clearly identifying the monopole strength distributions. We then have a better indication of where the L = 0 part is located with this reaction and its microscopic analysis. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Microscopic structure of <Superscript>126</Superscript>Ba in IBM terms

The yrast band of the nonaxially deformed ¹²⁶Ba nucleus is described by the Hamiltonian of the interaction boson model. Its parameters are calculated on the basis of a microscopic theory within a spherical mean field, and residual interactions that include pairing and multipole factorized forces. Each state of the yrast band is considered independently of others, allowing us to study variations in the superfluid properties of the nucleus and the quasiparticle structure of collective D phonons with spin. The calculations are performed in an expanded configuration space that includes the collective D phonon states, and noncollective states in which an additional phonon of positive parity whose spin assumes values of 0 to 6 is present along with the D phonons. It is shown that the collective Hamiltonian parameters cannot be reproduced without considering the effect of the noncollective states.     

Blocking of coupling to the 0<Subscript>2</Subscript><Superscript>+</Superscript> excitation in <Superscript>154</Superscript>Gd by the [505]11/2<Superscript>-</Superscript> neutron in <Superscript>155</Superscript>Gd

The concept that the first excited 0⁺ states in N = 90 nuclei are not a b \beta -vibration but a second vacuum formed by the combination of the quadrupole pairing force and the low density of oblate orbitals near the Fermi surface is supported by the blocking of this collective mode in ¹⁵⁴Gd from coupling to the [505]11/2^- single-particle quasi-neutron orbital in ¹⁵⁵Gd . The coupling of this orbital to the 2⁺ g \gamma -vibration in ¹⁵⁴Gd is observed since this coupling is not Pauli-blocked.     

Observation of orbital angular momentum transfer between acoustic and optical vortices in optical fiber

Acousto-optic interaction in optical fiber is examined from the perspective of copropagating optical and acoustic vortex modes. Calculation of the acousto-optic coupling coefficient between different optical modes leads to independent conservation of spin and orbital angular momentum of the interacting photons and phonons. We show that the orbital angular momentum of the acoustic vortex can be transferred to a circularly polarized fundamental optical mode to form a stable optical vortex in the fiber carrying orbital angular momentum. The technique provides a useful way of generating stable optical vortices in the fiber medium.     

Observation of a superdeformed band in <Superscript>190</Superscript>Pb

A superdeformed band has been observed in the N = 108 isotope ¹⁹⁰Pb. This is the most neutron-deficient Pb isotope in which superdeformed states have been observed. Several theoretical approaches have predicted that N = 108 will mark the limit of observable superdeformation in the Pb isotopes. The band, which consists of five (possibly six) transitions, is observed to feed at least one isomeric level in its decay to the ground state. This decay pattern supports a spin assignment of 10 for the lowest observed level.