We theoretically study nonequilibrium spin transport in a superconducting wire connected by tunnel junctions to two ferromagnetic metal wires, each of which serves as an injector or detector of spin-polarized electron current. We present a set of Boltzmann equations to determine nonequilibrium quasiparticle distributions in this system, and obtain an analytical expression for the nonlocal spin signal in the case of small injection current. It is shown that the quasiparticle distribution in the ferromagnetic metal for detection strongly affects the magnitude of the spin signal. At low temperatures, since nonequilibrium quasiparticles created by the tunneling from the superconductor dominate thermally excited ones, the spin signal becomes independent of temperature. This explains the convergence of the spin signal with decreasing temperature observed in a recent experiment by Poli \textit{et al}.
At nonzero temperatures, superconductors contain excitations known as Bogoliubov quasiparticles. The mesoscopic dynamics of quasiparticles inform the design of quantum information processors, among other devices. Knowledge of these dynamics stems from experiments in which quasiparticles are injected in a controlled fashion, typically at energies comparable to the pairing energy . Here we perform tunnel spectroscopy of a mesoscopic superconductor under high electric field. We observe quasiparticle injection due to field-emitted electrons with 10^6 times the pairing energy, an unexplored regime …
The excitations in conventional superconductors, Bogoliubov quasiparticles, are spin-1/2 fermions but their charge is energy-dependent and, in fact, zero at the gap edge. Therefore, in superconductors (unlike normal metals) the spin and charge degrees of freedom may be separated. In this article, we review spin injection into conventional superconductors and focus on recent experiments on mesoscopic superconductors. We show how quasiparticle spin transport and out-of-equilibrium spin dependent superconductivity can be triggered using the Zeeman splitting of the quasiparticle density of states …
Nowadays superconductors serve in numerous applications, from high-field magnets to ultra-sensitive detectors of radiation. Mesoscopic superconducting devices, i.e. those with nanoscale dimensions, are in a special position as they are easily driven out of equilibrium under typical operating conditions. The out-of-equilibrium superconductors are characterized by non-equilibrium quasiparticles. These extra excitations can compromise the performance of mesoscopic devices by introducing, e.g., leakage currents or decreased coherence times in quantum devices. By applying an external magnetic field…
We study the instability of the superconducting state in a mesoscopic geometry for the low pinning material Mo$_3$Ge characterized by a large Ginzburg-Landau parameter. We observe that in the current driven switching to the normal state from a nonlinear region of the Abrikosov flux flow, the mean critical vortex velocity reaches a limiting maximum velocity as a function of the applied magnetic field. Based on time dependent Ginzburg-Landau simulations we argue that the observed behavior is due to the high velocity vortex dynamics confined on a mesoscopic scale. We build up a general phase diag…
We study anomalous mesoscopic transport effects at the onset of the superconducting transition focusing on the observed large Nernst-Ettinghausen signal in disordered thin films. In the vicinity of the transition, as the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length of preformed Cooper pairs diverges, short-range mesoscopic fluctuations are equivalent to local fluctuations of the critical temperature. As a result, the dynamical susceptibility function of pair propagation acquires a singular mesoscopic component, and consequently, superconducting correlations give rise to enhanced mesoscopic fluctuations of…
Recently, Hecker et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 1547 (1997)] experimentally studied magnetoconductance fluctuations in a mesoscopic Au wire connected to a superconducting Nb contact. They claimed to have observed an enhancement of the rms magnitude of these conductance fluctuations in the superconducting state (rms(Gns)) relative to that in the normal state (rms(Gn)) by a factor of 2.8. In this comment, we argue that the measured rms(Gns) is NOT significantly enhanced compared to rms(Gn) when we correct for the presence of an incoherent series resistance from the contacts, which is different whe…
Measurement of mesoscopic High-$T_c$ superconductors using Si mechanical micro-oscillators
在超导介观样品中，尺寸与伦敦穿透深度相当，一些性质与大块材料中发现的性质不同。这些性质包括磁化、涡旋动力学和涡旋晶格的有序性。为了检测这类样品产生的微小信号，需要设计新的微尺度仪器。在这项工作中，我们使用微机械振荡器来研究的磁性的Bi $_2$ Sr $_2$ CaCu $_2$ O $_{8 + δ}$磁盘的直径为13.5微米，厚度为2.5微米。我们的结果的讨论是基于层间和层内电流的存在和贡献。
Nematicity is ubiquitous in electronic phases of high transition temperature superconductors, particularly in iron-based superconductors (IBSCs). Order parameter that characterizes the nematic phase has been investigated in momentum space, but its real-space arrangement remains largely unclear. We use linear dichroism (LD) in low-temperature laser-photoemission electron microscope to map out the nematic order parameter of nonmagentic FeSe and antiferromagnetic BaFe2(As0.87P0.13)2. In contrast to the structural domains that have atomic-scale domain walls, the LD patterns in both materials show …
Rapid development of micro- and nanofabrication methods have provoked interest and enabled experimental studies of electronic properties of a vast class of (sub)micrometer-size solid state systems. Mesoscopic-size hybrid structures, containing superconducting elements, have become interesting objects for basic research studies and various applications, ranging from medical and astrophysical sensors to quantum computing. One of the most important aspects of physics, governing the behavior of such systems, is the finite concentration of nonequilibrium quasiparticles, present in a superconductor …
We study the density of states (DOS) and the transition temperature $T_c$ in a dirty superconducting film with rare classical magnetic impurities of an arbitrary strength described by the Poissonian statistics. We take into account that the potential disorder is a source for mesoscopic fluctuations of the local DOS, and, consequently, for the effective strength of magnetic impurities. We find that these mesoscopic fluctuations result in a non-zero DOS for all energies in the region of the phase diagram where without this effect the DOS is zero within the standard mean-field theory. This mechan…
Signature of chiral superconducting order parameter evidenced in mesoscopic superconductors
Quantum Science Center of Guangdong-HongKong-Macau Greater Bay Area（粤港澳大湾区量子科学中心）；University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；The Chinese University of Hong Kong（香港中文大学）
