Conductivity measurements on double-stranded DNA molecules deposited by a combing process across a submicron slit between rhenium/carbon metallic contacts reveal conduction to be ohmic between room temperature and 1 kelvin. The resistance per molecule is less than 100 kilohm and varies weakly with temperature. Below the superconducting transition temperature (1 kelvin) of the contacts, proximity-induced superconductivity is observed. These results imply that DNA molecules can be conducting down to millikelvin temperature and that phase coherence is maintained over several hundred nanometers.

We report measurements on ropes of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) in low-resistance contact to nonsuperconducting (normal) metallic pads, at low voltage and at temperatures down to 70 mK. In one sample, we find a 2 orders of magnitude resistance drop below 0.55 K, which is destroyed by a magnetic field of the order of 1 T, or by a dc current greater than 2.5 microA. These features strongly suggest the existence of superconductivity in ropes of SWNT.

Proximity-induced superconductivity in single-walled carbon nanotubes below 1 kelvin, both in a single tube 1 nanometer in diameter and in crystalline ropes containing about 100 nanotubes, was observed. The samples were suspended between two superconducting electrodes, permitting structural study in a transmission electron microscope. When the resistance of the nanotube junction is sufficiently low, it becomes superconducting and can carry high supercurrents. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the critical current of such junctions exhibits unusual features related to their strong one-dimensional character.

The protection against backscattering provided by topology is a striking property. In two-dimensional insulators, a consequence of this topological protection is the ballistic nature of the one-dimensional helical edge states. One demonstration of ballisticity is the quantized Hall conductance. Here we provide another demonstration of ballistic transport, in the way the edge states carry a supercurrent. The system we have investigated is a micrometre-long monocrystalline bismuth nanowire with topological surfaces, that we connect to two superconducting electrodes. We have measured the relation between the Josephson current flowing through the nanowire and the superconducting phase difference at its ends, the current–phase relation. The sharp sawtooth-shaped phase-modulated current–phase relation we find demonstrates that transport occurs selectively along two ballistic edges of the nanowire. In addition, we show that a magnetic field induces 0–π transitions and φ0-junction behaviour, providing a way to manipulate the phase of the supercurrent-carrying edge states and generate spin supercurrents.

We report observations of acoustoelectric effects in carbon nanotubes. We excite sound in &mgr;m long ropes of single walled carbon nanotubes suspended between two metallic contacts by applying radio-frequency electric field. The sound is detected by measuring either the dc resistance of the tubes in a region of strong temperature dependence (in the vicinity of superconducting or metal-insulator transition), or their critical current. We show that, depending on the excitation power, the vibrations produce either electron heating or phase coherence breaking.