Phase-slip centers and nonequilibrium processes in superconducting tin microbridges

Skocpol, W. J.; Beasley, M. R.; Tinkham, M.

doi:10.1007/bf00655865

Cited by 458 publications

(271 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…This behavior is characteristic of phase-slip centers and has been extensively explored in the past. 12,13,16 Most likely, in our particular case, the steps in E coincide with the generation of phase-slip lines at the incommensurate moving vortex rows where vortices have a higher average mobility. 14 Interestingly, these phase-slip lines may coexist with slow moving vortex rows ͑commensurate rows͒.…”

mentioning

confidence: 66%

Transition from turbulent to nearly laminar vortex flow in superconductors with periodic pinning

et al. 2009

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We revisit the vortex dynamics in Al thin films containing an artificial periodic array of antidots by means of electrical transport measurements. We clearly identify a turbulent to laminarlike vortex flow transition which manifests itself as a negative differential resistivity. This transition is accompanied by a strong irreversibility in the voltage-current characteristics. The dynamical phase diagrams obtained as a function of commensurability, temperature, and driving force are in good agreement with the early predictions by Reichhardt et al. ͓Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2648 ͑1997͔͒ based on molecular dynamic simulations. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.80.140514 PACS number͑s͒: 74.25.Qt, 74.25.Dw, 74.40.ϩk, 74.78.Na The pioneering work of Giaever 1 provided the first experimental evidence that dc electrical resistance in type-II superconductors is a direct consequence of the motion of Abrikosov vortices.Extensive molecular dynamics ͑MD͒ simulations of array of vortices treated as overdamped objects interacting repulsively with each other and moving over a predefined potential landscape have proven to be a remarkably successful tool to describe the vortex dynamics in all sort of superconductors. 2 Superconductors with a periodic array of pinning centers represent a unique playground to investigate the interaction between vortices and pinning sites. [3][4][5] Early MD simulations for this particular system by Reichhardt et al. 6,7 predicted a remarkable property, namely, the existence of a dynamic transition from a highly dissipative disordered vortex flow at low driving forces to a less dissipative state of ordered flow where pinned vortices coexist with fast solitonlike excitations at higher currents. The sequence in which these dynamical phases appear is highly nontrivial and even counterintuitive since it implies a reduction of the average vortex mobility by increasing the driving force.In spite of the great deal of attention that this fascinating discovery has received in the superconducting community, so far there has been no experimental confirmation of it. A possible cause, recently pointed out by Misko et al.,8,9 is that strong heating or disorder effects can mask this effect. In this Rapid Communication we provide unambiguous experimental evidence that a superconducting film with a periodic array of antidots exhibits a clear turbulent to laminarlike vortex flow transition provided that heat removal is efficient. This transition appears as a negative differential resistivity in the current-voltage characteristics. We demonstrate that the loci of the dynamic transitions in a magnetic field-temperature phase diagram are highly sensitive to the pinning strength and commensurability of the system. At high bias currents the simplified model of a vortex as a pointlike classical particle which ignores the internal structure of the vortex and its elastic nature seems to fail and more realistic approaches, such as time dependent Ginzburg-Landau formalism, become necessary.The investigated sample consists of an Al film of...

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confidence: 66%

Transition from turbulent to nearly laminar vortex flow in superconductors with periodic pinning

et al. 2009

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“…͑An analogous decoupling of the chemical potentials for the S and the N fluids near phase-slip centers in superconducting wires in the presence of a transport current was discussed in Refs. [72][73][74].͒…”

Section: Mesoscopic Model Of Chain Of Grainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Superconductor-to-normal transitions in dissipative chains of mesoscopic grains and nanowires

et al. 2007

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The interplay of quantum fluctuations and dissipation in chains of mesoscopic superconducting grains is analyzed and the results are applied to nanowires. It is shown that in one dimensional arrays of resistively shunted Josephson junctions, the superconducting-normal charge relaxation within the grains plays an important role. At zero temperature, two superconducting phases can exist, depending primarily on the strength of the dissipation. In the fully superconducting phase ͑FSC͒, each grain acts superconducting, and the coupling to the dissipative conduction is important. In the SC Ã phase, the dissipation is irrelevant at long wavelengths. The transition between these two phases is driven by quantum phase slip dipoles, and is primarily local, with continuously varying critical exponents. In contrast, the transition from the SC Ã phase to the normal metallic phase is a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition with global character ͑i.e., determined by the field behavior at large wavelengths͒. Most interesting is the transition from the FSC phase directly to the normal phase: this transition, which has mixed local and global characteristics, can be one of three distinct types. The corresponding segments of the phase boundary come together at bicritical points. The zero-temperature phase diagram, as well as the finite-temperature scaling behavior are inferred from both weak and strong coupling renormalization group analyses. At intermediate temperatures, near either superconductor-to-normal phase transition, there are regimes of super-metallic behavior, in which the resistivity first decreases gradually with decreasing temperature before eventually increasing as temperature is lowered further. The results on chains of Josephson junctions are extended to continuous superconducting nanowires and the subtle issue of whether these can exhibit an FSC phase is considered. Potential relevance to superconductor-metal transitions in other systems is also discussed.

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“…10 There is an instructive analogy to the physics of a 1-D superconducting wire 12 . In 1-D, there is no stable thermodynamic superconducting state; the zero-resistance state is only metastable because it is interrupted by occasional, shortlived, thermal or quantum phase-slip centers (PSC), which are the 1-D analog of bound V-aV pairs 13,14 . If the wire is currentbiased by connection to an external current supply, then the zero-resistance state is metastable up to a current where the Cooper-pair momentum, p s , reaches / √ 3ξ.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upper limit of metastability of the vortex-free state of a two-dimensional superconductor in a nonuniform magnetic field

Lemberger

Ahmed

2013

Phys. Rev. B

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We calculate the magnetic field above which vortices necessarily appear in a two-dimensional superconducting film in a non-uniform magnetic field applied near its center, as in two-coil measurements of superfluid density. Experiments suggest that free vortices appear when the Meissner screening current density is large enough that the free-energy barrier for separating tightly-bound vortex-antivortex (V-aV) pairs into free vortices is comparable to k B T , not at the much lower thermodynamic critical field. Specifically, we calculate the applied magnetic field above which there exists no metastable state without vortices. There is a simple analogy with the appearance of phase-slip-centers in a one-dimensional superconducting wire. 74.25.Op, 75.40.Mg

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Phase-slip centers and nonequilibrium processes in superconducting tin microbridges

Cited by 458 publications

References 14 publications

Transition from turbulent to nearly laminar vortex flow in superconductors with periodic pinning

Transition from turbulent to nearly laminar vortex flow in superconductors with periodic pinning

Superconductor-to-normal transitions in dissipative chains of mesoscopic grains and nanowires

Upper limit of metastability of the vortex-free state of a two-dimensional superconductor in a nonuniform magnetic field

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