Considering $CuO_{2}$ conducting layers present in high Tc superconductors as plasma sheets, we proposed a prescription for the $T_{c}$ pressure behavior taken into account the Casimir effect. The Casimir energy arises from these parallel plasma sheets (Cu-O planes) when it take placed in the regime of nanometer scale (small \textit{d} distance). The charge reservoir layer supplies carries to the conducting $nCuO_{2}$ layers, which are a source of superconductivity. The pressure induced charge transfer model (PICTM) makes use of an intrinsic term, which description is still unclear. Considering Casimir energy describing the $T_{c}$ for the case of hight-$T_{c}$ superconductors, we propose an explicit expression to the intrinsic term. Realistic parameters used in the proposed expression have shown an agreement with experimental intrinsic term data observed in some high-$T_{c}$ compounds.
We investigate the Casimir forces between high-$T_c$ superconductors as function of the distance and temperature, focusing on optimally-doped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.95}$. We consider formerly studied configurations in normal metals lying in the short-distance (50 nm - 600 nm), and long-distance (600 nm - 10 microns) regimes. The dielectric properties of the material are described in terms of weakly-interacting, short-correlated conducting pairs transported along quasi-2D layers. In the short-range regime, a continuous behavior of the Casimir forces arises, with no significant discontinuity at the …
It is proposed that the Casimir energy of the electromagnetic field in between the layers of cuprate superconductors could significantly contribute to the energy balance in these materials. Since the Casimir energy is strongly dependent on the distance between the layers a corresponding dependence is predicted for the superconducting transition temperatures. Comparison with the experimental data on the transition temperatures of epitaxial superlattices of alternating layers of YBCO and PrBCO of varying thickness shows that these are well reproduced.
We report here an atomic resolution study of the structure and composition of the grain boundaries in polycrystalline Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 superconductor. A large fraction of grain boundaries contain amorphous layers larger than the coherence length, while some others contain nanometer-scale particles sandwiched in between amorphous layers. We also find that there is significant oxygen enrichment at the grain boundaries. Such results explain the relatively low transport critical current density (Jc) of polycrystalline samples with respect to that of bicrystal films.
Using high speed scanning tunneling spectroscopy, we perform a full mapping of the quasiparticle density of states (DOS) in single crystals of BiPbSrCaCuO(2212). The measurements carried out at 5 K showed a complex spatial pattern of important variations of the local DOS on the nanometer scale. Superconducting areas are co-existing with regions of a smooth and larger gap-like DOS structure. The superconducting regions are found to have a minimum size of about 3 nm. The role of Pb-introduced substitutional disorder in the observed spatial variations of the local DOS is discussed.
We present a new approach to calculate the attractive long-range vortex-vortex interaction of the van der Waals type present in anisotropic and layered superconductors. The mapping of the statistical mechanics of two-dimensional charged bosons allows us to define a Casimir problem: Two half spaces of vortex matter separated by a gap of width R are mapped to two dielectric half planes of charged bosons interacting via a massive gauge field. We determine the attractive Casimir force between the two half planes and show that it agrees with the pairwise summation of the van der Waals force between…
We present a new approach to calculate the attractive long range vortex-vortex interaction of the van der Waals type present in anisotropic and layered superconductors. The mapping of the statistical mechanics of vortex lines onto the imaginary time quantum mechanics of two dimensional charged bosons allows us to define a 2D Casimir problem: Two half-spaces of (dilute) vortex matter separated by a gap of width R are mapped to two dielectric half-planes of charged bosons interacting via a massive gauge field. We determine the attractive Casimir force between the two half-planes and show, that i…
We have presented a detailed investigation of the Casimir interaction between the superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (BSCCO) and silicon dioxide with the presence of bromobenzene in between. We found the dispersion force is repulsive and the magnitude of the force can be changed by varying the thickness of object and temperature. The repulsive force would provide a method to deal with the stiction problems and bring much meaningful from practical views.
We will use Fisher information to properly analyze the quantum weak equivalence principle. We argue that gravitational waves will be partially reflected by superconductors. This will occur as the violation of the weak equivalence principle in Cooper pairs is larger than the surrounding ionic lattice. Such reflections of virtual gravitational waves by superconductors can produce a gravitational Casimir effect, which may be detected using currently available technology.
The dynamics of quantized magnetic vortices and their pinning by materials defects determine electromagnetic properties of superconductors, particularly their ability to carry non-dissipative currents. Despite recent advances in the understanding of the complex physics of vortex matter, the behavior of vortices driven by current through a multi-scale potential of the actual materials defects is still not well understood, mostly due to the scarcity of appropriate experimental tools capable of tracing vortex trajectories on nanometer scales. Using a novel scanning superconducting quantum interfe…
High temperature superconductors have in common that they consist of parallel planes of copper oxide separated by layers whose composition can vary. Being ceramics, the cuprate superconductors are poor conductors above the transition temperature, T_c. Below T_c, the parallel Cu-O planes in those materials become superconducting while the layers in between stay poor conductors. Here, we ask to what extent the change in the Casimir energy that arises when the parallel Cu-O layers become superconducting could contribute to the superconducting condensation energy. Our aim here is merely to obtain …
Superconductivity results from a Bose condensate of Cooper-paired electrons with a macroscopic quantum wavefunction. Dramatic effects can occur when the region of the condensate is shaped and confined to the nanometer scale. Recent progress in nanostructured superconductors has revealed a route to topological superconductivity, with possible applications in quantum computing. However, challenges remain in controlling the shape and size of specific superconducting materials. Here, we report a new method to create nanostructured superconductors by partial crystallization of the half-Heusler mate…
Superconductor films on semiconductor substrates draw much attention recently since the derived superconductor-based electronics have been shown promising for future data process and storage technologies. By growing atomically uniform single-crystal epitaxial Pb films of several nanometers thick on Si wafers to form a sharp superconductor-semiconductor heterojunction, we have obtained an unusual giant magnetoresistance effect when the Pb film is superconducting. In addition to the great fundamental interest of this effect, the simple structure and compatibility and scalability with current Si-…
When a ferromagnet is placed in contact with a superconductor, owing to incompatible spin order, the Cooper pairs from the superconductor cannot survive more than one or two nanometers inside the ferromagnet. This is confirmed in the measurements of ferromagnetic nickel (Ni) nanowires contacted by superconducting niobium (Nb) leads. However, when a 3 nm thick copper oxide (CuO) buffer layer made by exposing an evaporated or a sputtered 3 nm Cu film to air, is inserted between the Nb electrodes and the Ni wire, the spatial extent of the superconducting proximity range is dramatically increased …
We analyze the local density of states (LDOS) of heterostructures consisting of alternating ferromagnet, $F$, and superconductor, $S$, layers. We consider structures of the $SFS$ and $SFSFSFS$ type, with thin nanometer scale $F$ and $S$ layers, within the ballistic regime. The spin-splitting effects of the ferromagnet and the mutual coupling between the $S$ regions, yield several nontrivial stable and metastable pair amplitude configurations, and we find that the details of the spatial behavior of the pair amplitude govern the calculated electronic spectra. These are reflected in discernible s…
Superconducting diode effect in magnetic superconductors realized by nonreciprocal domain-wall dynamics
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology（韩国科学技术院）；University of Seoul（首尔大学）；Korea Institute for Advanced Study（韩国高等研究院）；University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）；Texas A&M University（德克萨斯农工大学）；University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校）
We consider the charge and spin effects in low dimensional superconducting weak links. The first part of the review deals with the effects of electron-electron interaction in Superconductor/Luttinger liquid/Superconductor junctions. The experimental realization of this mesoscopic hybrid system can be the individual single wall carbon nanotube that bridges the gap between two bulk superconductors. The dc Josephson current through a Luttinger liquid in the limits of perfectly and poorly transmitting junctions is evaluated. The relationship between the Josephson effect in a long SNS junction and …
Combined scanning tunneling microscopy, spectroscopy and local barrier height (LBH) studies show that low-temperature-cleaved optimally-doped Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 crystals with x=0.06, with Tc = 22 K, have complicated morphologies. Although the cleavage surface and hence the morphologies are variable, the superconducting gap maps show the same gap widths and nanometer size inhomogeneities irrelevant to the morphology. Based on the spectroscopy and LBH maps, the bright patches and dark stripes in the morphologies are identified as Ba and As dominated surface terminations, respectively. Magnetic imp…
We report the violation of the Pauli limit due to intrinsic spin-orbit coupling in SrTiO3 heterostructures. Via selective doping down to a few nanometers, a two-dimensional superconductor is formed, geometrically suppressing orbital pair-breaking. The spin-orbit scattering is exposed by the robust in-plane superconducting upper critical field, exceeding the Pauli limit by a factor of 4. Transport scattering times several orders of magnitude higher than for conventional thin film superconductors enables a new regime to be entered, where spin-orbit coupling effects arise non-perturbatively.
In this work, magnetization dynamics is studied in superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor three-layered films in a wide frequency, field, and temperature ranges using the broad-band ferromagnetic resonance measurement technique. It is shown that in presence of both superconducting layers and of superconducting proximity at both superconductor/ferromagnet interfaces a massive shift of the ferromagnetic resonance to higher frequencies emerges. The phenomenon is robust and essentially long-range: it has been observed for a set of samples with the thickness of ferromagnetic layer in the range f…
Implanting fully polarized low energy muons on the nanometer scale beneath the surface of a superconductor in the Meissner state enabled us to probe the evanescent magnetic field profile B(z)(0<z<=200nm measured from the surface). All the investigated samples [Nb: kappa \simeq 0.7(2), Pb: kappa \simeq 0.6(1), Ta: kappa \simeq 0.5(2)] show clear deviations from the simple exponential B(z) expected in the London limit, thus revealing the non-local response of these superconductors. From a quantitative analysis within the Pippard and BCS models the London penetration depth lambda_L is extracted. …
High-temperature (high-Tc) superconductivity in the copper oxides arises from electron or hole doping of their antiferromagnetic (AF) insulating parent compounds. The evolution of the AF phase with doping and its spatial coexistence with superconductivity are governed by the nature of charge and spin correlations and provide clues to the mechanism of high-Tc superconductivity. Here we use a combined neutron scattering and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) to study the Tc evolution of electron-doped superconducting Pr0.88LaCe0.12CuO4-delta obtained through the oxygen annealing process. We f…
Applying the Helmholtz Decomposition theorem to linearized General Relativity leads to a gauge-invariant formulation where the transverse-traceless part of the metric perturbation describes gravitational waves in matter. Gravitational waves incident on a superconductor can be described by a linear London-like constituent equation characterized by a "gravitational shear modulus" and a corresponding plasma frequency and penetration depth. Electric-like and magnetic-like gravitational tensor fields are defined in terms of the strain field of a gravitational wave. It is shown that in the DC limit,…
MgB2 is a promising superconductor for important large-scale applications for both high field magnets and cryocooler-cooled magnet operated at temperatures around 20 K. In this work, by utilizing C60 as a viable alternative dopant, we demonstrate a simple and industrially scaleable rout that yields a 10-15-fold improvement in the in-high-field current densities of MgB2 tape conductors. For example, a Jc value higher than 4x10^4 A/cm^2 (4.2 K, 10 T), which exceeds that for NbTi superconductor, can be realized on the C60 doped MgB2 tapes. It is worth noting that this value is even higher than th…
We studied the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) like state establishing due to the proximity effect in superconducting Nb/Cu41Ni59 bilayers. Using a special wedge-type deposition technique, series of 20-35 samples could be fabricated by magnetron sputtering during one run. The layer thickness of only a few nanometers, the composition of the alloy, and the quality of interfaces were controlled by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Auger spectroscopy. The magnetic properties of the ferromagnetic alloy layer were characterized with…
Maximizing the sustainable supercurrent density, Jc, is crucial to high current applications of superconductivity and, to achieve this, preventing dissipative motion of quantized vortices is key. Irradiation of superconductors with high-energy heavy ions can be used to create nanoscale defects that act as deep pinning potentials for vortices. This approach holds unique promise for high current applications of iron-based superconductors because Jc amplification persists to much higher radiation doses than in cuprate superconductors without significantly altering the superconducting critical tem…
The discovery of the Meissner effect was a turning point in the history of superconductivity. It demonstrated that superconductivity is an equilibrium state of matter, thus allowing to use thermodynamics for its study. This provided a justification for the two-fluid model of Gorter and Casimir, a seminal thermodynamic theory founded on a postulate of zero entropy of the superconducting (S) component of conduction electrons. It also demonstrated that, apart from zero resistivity, the S phase is also characterized by zero magnetic induction, used as a basic postulate in the theory of Londons und…
