Evidence for Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling in One-Dimensional Superconductors

Giordano, N.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.61.2137

Cited by 274 publications

(339 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Recently, superfluidity and superconductivity in one dimension (1D) have been experimentally studied in various systems, including superconducting nanowires [1][2][3][4][5], liquid helium in nanopores [6,7], and ultracold bosonic atoms in optical lattices [8][9][10][11]. A common property found in these different systems is that the transport in 1D is significantly suppressed compared to that in higher dimensions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When the temperature is sufficiently low, thermal fluctuations are suppressed and the nucleation of phase slips due to quantum tunneling provides dominant contributions to the superflow decay [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Indeed some of the experiments with superconducting nanowires have observed the crossover from the regime of the thermal activation to the quantum regime [1][2][3][4][5]. Moreover, the experiments studying the transport of 1D Bose gases in optical lattices [9] showed a good agreement with the theoretical analyses at zero temperature by the time-evolving block decimation (TEBD) method [24,25] that accurately takes into account the effects of quantum fluctuations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantum phase slips in one-dimensional superfluids in a periodic potential

Danshita

Polkovnikov

2012

Phys. Rev. A

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We study the decay of superflow of a one-dimensional (1D) superfluid in the presence of a periodic potential. In 1D, superflow at zero temperature can decay via quantum nucleation of phase slips even when the flow velocity is much smaller than the critical velocity predicted by mean-field theories. Applying the instanton method to the O(2) quantum rotor model, we calculate the nucleation rate of quantum phase slips Γ. When the flow momentum p is small, we find that the nucleation rate per unit length increases algebraically with p as Γ/L ∝ p 2K−2 , where L is the system size and K is the Tomonaga-Luttinger parameter. Based on the relation between the nucleation rate and the quantum superfluid-insulator transition, we present a unified explanation on the scaling formulae of the nucleation rate for periodic, disorder, and single-barrier potentials. Using the time-evolving block decimation method, we compute the exact quantum dynamics of the superflow decay in the 1D Bose-Hubbard model at unit filling. From the numerical analyses, we show that the scaling formula is valid for the case of the Bose-Hubbard model, which can quantitatively describe Bose gases in optical lattices.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantum phase slips in one-dimensional superfluids in a periodic potential

Danshita

Polkovnikov

2012

Phys. Rev. A

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“…Hence, it is quite realistic to fabricate and study quasi-one dimensional (1D) superconducting systems [1]. It has been demonstrated that in such objects quantum fluctuations of the phase of the complex order parameter e i can suppress zero resistivity at temperatures well below the critical point T<<T c [2][3][4][5][6][7] and dramatically modify the current-phase relation and the magnitude of persistent currents in narrow superconducting nanorings [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Quantum Phase Slip Phenomenon in Superconducting Nanowires with High-Impedance Environment

Arutyunov

Lehtinen

Rantala

2015

J Supercond Nov Magn

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“…Phase slip by thermal activation 1 is observed as a resistive tail below the critical temperature. In wires with diameter below 10 nm and very high resistance, the energy barrier is small enough that phase slip by quantum tunnelling can be expected 2,3 . Wires of Mo-Ge deposited on suspended carbon nanotubes have been studied [3][4][5] , and the results are in reasonable agreement with microscopic calculations of phase-slip rates 7,8 .…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Phase slip by thermal activation at high temperatures is well understood 1 . Phase slip by quantum tunnelling at low temperatures is considered plausible 2,3 , but experiments on the resistance of nanowires 4,5 are inconclusive on this point. Büchler et al 6 conclude that successive quantum phase slip (QPS) events can be coherent.…”

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confidence: 99%

Superconducting nanowires as quantum phase-slip junctions

2006

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F or a superconductor, charge and phase are dual quantum variables. A phase-slip event in a superconducting nanowire changes the phase difference over the wire by 2π; it is the dual process to Cooper-pair tunnelling in a Josephson junction. Phase slip by thermal activation at high temperatures is well understood 1 . Phase slip by quantum tunnelling at low temperatures is considered plausible 2,3 , but experiments on the resistance of nanowires 4,5 are inconclusive on this point. Büchler et al. 6 conclude that successive quantum phase slip (QPS) events can be coherent. Here, we demonstrate that, if it exists, coherent QPS is the exact dual to Josephson tunnelling. A narrow nanowire should act as a QPS junction that shows kinetic capacitance, a plasma resonance and current plateaus of interest for nanoelectronic applications. We suggest feasible experiments to unequivocally confirm the existence for coherent QPS.Phase slip in a thin superconducting wire occurs on the scale of the superconducting coherence length. Phase slip by thermal activation 1 is observed as a resistive tail below the critical temperature. In wires with diameter below 10 nm and very high resistance, the energy barrier is small enough that phase slip by quantum tunnelling can be expected 2,3 . Wires of Mo-Ge deposited on suspended carbon nanotubes have been studied [3][4][5] , and the results are in reasonable agreement with microscopic calculations of phase-slip rates 7,8 . All experiments consisted of passing a small d.c. current through the sample and measuring the voltage. As each phase-slip event in the presence of a current I releases an energy IΦ 0 , where Φ 0 = h/2e is the flux quantum, with h the Planck constant and e the electron charge, such measurements are dissipative. Unambiguous experimental evidence of QPS is still absent. It has been concluded 5 that results can be described by thermally activated phase slip for wires with larger cross-section, and as mesoscopic diffusive normal-metal conductance for the weaker wires. The theoretical analysis is complicated by the fact that the behaviour of the bosonic superfluid may be overshadowed by the fermionic effects of localization and interaction. The superconducting energy gap in the wire may be suppressed and quasiparticles may be generated. However, we are not aware of any reason that would forbid QPS to be a physical reality. We thus assume that coherent QPS may take place, that it is characterized by a transition amplitude E S /2 and that no quasiparticles are present (E S < Δ, Δ being the superconducting energy gap). On the The diamond-shaped symbol in the QPS qubit circuit represents the quantum phase-slip process. The capacitive energy is E = E C (n − n g ) 2 and the inductivebasis of Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB)-type estimates 3 and microscopic calculations 7 , we assume that the transition amplitude for QPS in practical superconducting nanowires of 1 μm length can be as high as E S /h = 100 GHz. Wires in which significant QPS occurs have large kinetic inductance L and smal...

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Evidence for Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling in One-Dimensional Superconductors

Cited by 274 publications

References 21 publications

Quantum phase slips in one-dimensional superfluids in a periodic potential

Quantum phase slips in one-dimensional superfluids in a periodic potential

The Quantum Phase Slip Phenomenon in Superconducting Nanowires with High-Impedance Environment

Superconducting nanowires as quantum phase-slip junctions

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