In superconductors the zero-resistance current-flow is protected from dissipation at finite temperatures (T) by virtue of the short-circuit condition maintained by the electrons that remain in the condensed state. The recently suggested finite-T insulator and the “superinsulating” phase are different because any residual mechanism of conduction will eventually become dominant as the finite-T insulator sets-in. If the residual conduction is small it may be possible to observe the transition to these intriguing states. We show that the conductivity of the high magnetic-field insulator terminating superconductivity in amorphous indium-oxide exhibits an abrupt drop, and seem to approach a zero conductance at T < 0.04 K. We discuss our results in the light of theories that lead to a finite-T insulator.

The superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) is an accessible quantum phase transition 1,2 that is observed in a number of systems and can be driven by various experimental means 3-9 . A central outstanding issue regards the physical nature of the insulating phase terminating superconductivity 10 . Theoretical advances led to the proposition that this insulator is a new state of matter, termed a superinsulator 11,12 , because its properties can be inferred from the superconductor by invoking duality symmetry 13 . Here we report on the observation of duality symmetry near the magnetic-field-driven SIT in amorphous indium oxide. However, we show that the symmetry is broken by the emergence of the strong insulating state at low temperature.For the magnetic-field-driven SIT (B-SIT) in disordered films, the concept of vortex-charge duality was investigated in ref. 14, using the dirty boson model. In the superconductor, Cooper pairs are condensed into a superfluid at low temperature (T ) values leading to a zero resistivity (ρ) state, with vortices as bosonic excitations introducing dissipation and causing finite ρ. According to the duality concept, in the insulating state, vortices are condensed in a collective mode with zero conductivity (σ ), and the Cooper pairs are the bosonic excitation contributing to a finite σ .The vortex-charge duality has also been applied to the analysis of Josephson junction arrays 15,16 , which are often used as a model system for the SIT in disordered films 11,12,17 . In these systems the insulating state is commonly ascribed to a Coulomb blockade of superconducting islands. Duality is also applied to many other systems, for example, boson duality in two-dimensional electron gases 18 . Recently, evidence for the vortex-charge duality near a SIT was found in LaAlO 3 /SrTiO 3 interfaces 13 .Here, we experimentally investigate the duality symmetry across the B-SIT. We apply a duality transformation relating states within the superconductor to states in the B-driven insulator. We observe vortex-charge duality symmetry that holds up to one order of magnitude in B, T and ρ. The new aspect of this work is that we find systematic deviations from duality symmetry that originate in the B-induced magnetoresistance (ρ(B)) peak 5 . These deviations are qualitatively different at low and high T , as will be shown in detail below.In Fig. 1 we present ρ(B) isotherms obtained from sample RAM005b, which is superconducting at B = 0 with T c = 1.3 K. For all T values where reliable Ohmic data could be collected ρ increases with B until it reaches a T -dependent peak at B peak between 8.5-9.7 T. We restrict ourselves to T > 0.15 K because in the insulating phase, at T < 0.15 K, severe bi-stability of the electron T develops 19 , resulting in strongly nonlinear I -V , that prevented reliable measurements of ρ.The isotherms exhibit a weakly T -dependent crossing point close to h/(2e) 2 , where h is Planck's constant and 2e is the charge

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We report on the charge carrier dynamics of superconducting titanium nitride (TiN) in the frequency range 90 -510 GHz (3 -17 cm −1 ). The experiments were perfomed on a 18 nm thick TiN film with a critical temperature of Tc = 3.4 K. Measurements were carried out from room temperature down to 2 K, and in magnetic fields up to B = 7 T. We extract the real and imaginary parts of the complex conductivityσ as a function of frequency and temperature, directly providing the superconducting energy gap 2∆. Further analysis yields the superconducting London penetration depth λL. The findings as well as the normal state properties strongly suggest conventional BCS superconductivity, underlined by the ratio 2∆(0)/kB Tc = 3.44. Detailed analysis of the charge carrier dynamics of the silicon substrate is also discussed.

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