Decoupling Transition I. Flux Lattices in Pure Layered Superconductors
Ruth Goldin, Baruch Horovitz
备注：
14 pages, 5 figures. New sections III, V. Companion to following article on "Decoupling and Depinning II: Flux lattices in disordered layered superconductors"
We study the decoupling transition of flux lattices in a layered superconductors at which the Josephson coupling J is renormalized to zero. We identify the order parameter and related correlations; the latter are shown to decay as a power law in the decoupled phase. Within 2nd order renormalization group we find that the transition is always continuous, in contrast with results of the self consistent harmonic approximation. The critical temperature for weak J is ~1/B, where B is the magnetic field, while for strong J it is~1/sqrt{B} and is strongly enhanced. We show that renormaliztion group can be used to evaluate the Josephson plasma frequency and find that for weak J it is~1/BT^2 in the decoupled phase.
We consider layered superconductors with a flux lattice perpendicular to the layers and random columnar defects parallel to the magnetic field B. We show that the decoupling transition temperature Td, at which the Josephson coupling vanishes, is enhanced by columnar defects by an amount ~B^2 relative to Td. Decoupling by increasing field can be followed by a reentrant recoupling transition for strong disorder. We also consider a commensurate component of the columnar density and show that its pinning potential is renormalized to zero above a critical long wavelength disorder. This decommnesura…
We report results for a 3D simulation of a layered superconductor. There are two significant temperatures. The first corresponds to melting of the vortex lattice in the a-b plane (T_ab) and the second to decoupling of the layers (T_dc) with T_ab \le T_ dc. The decoupling is found to be a first order transition with an associated entropy of ~0.25-0.4 k_B/pancake. The melting has no obvious thermodynamic signature, and could be a crossover. The width of the intermediate regime T_ab<T<T_dc, decreases with increasing anisotropy such that for the more anisotropic system we cannot distinguish the me…
Phase transitions of a flux lattice in layered superconductors with magnetic field perpendicular to the layers and in presence of disorder are studied. We find that the Josephson coupling between layers leads to a strongly pinned Josephson glass (JG) phase at low temperatures and fields. The JG phase undergoes either a decoupling transition with increasing field or a depinning transition with increasing temperature. The resulting phases undergo further depinning and decoupling transitions, respectively, resulting in a phase diagram with a multicritical point where four phases meet. The phase d…
The dynamic phase diagram of vortex lattices driven in disorder is calculated in two and three dimensions. A modified Lindemann criterion for the fluctuations of the distance of neighboring vortices is used, which unifies previous analytic approaches to the equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase transitions. The temperature shifts of the dynamic melting and decoupling transitions are found to scale inversely proportional to large driving currents. A comparison with two-dimensional simulations shows that this phenomenological approach can provide quantitative estimate for the location of these t…
The low energy excitation spectrum is found for a layered superconductor vortex with a small number of impurities inside the vortex core. All levels are found to be correlated. This leads to the strong enhancement of conductivity in superclean layered superconductors.
Structural and physical properties of layered chalcogenide superconductors are summarized. In particular, we review the remarkable properties of the Fe-chalcogenide superconductors, FeSe and FeTe-based materials. Furthermore, we introduce the recently-discovered new BiS2-based layered superconductors and discuss its prospects.
It is shown that the electric charge of vortices can result in a helical instability of straight vortex lines in layered superconductors, particularly Bi-based cuprates or organic superconductors. This instability may result in a phase transition to a uniformly twisted vortex state, which could be detected by torque magnetometry, neutron diffraction, electromagnetic or calorimetric measurements.
We analyze the use of layered superconductors as anisotropic metamaterials. Layered superconductors can have a negative refraction index in a wide frequency range for arbitrary incident angles. Indeed, low-Tc (s-wave) superconductors allow to produce artificial heterostructures with low losses for T<<Tc. However, the real part of their in-plane effective permittivity is very large. Moreover, even at low temperatures, layered high-Tc superconductors have a large in-plane normal conductivity, producing large losses (due to d-wave symmetry). Therefore, it is difficult to enhance the evanescent mo…
Electronic band structure of boron-rich low-temperature superconductors UB12-like dodecaboride YB12 and CaB6-like hexaboride YB6 are investigated using the first-principle FLMTO calculations and compared with one for layered YB2 and the new "medium-Tc" superconductor MgB2 diborides.
We discuss the scenario of two-step magnetic ordering in layered high temperature superconductors after charge ordering. As the temperature decreases, the transition from 3D Heisenberg spin behavior to 2D XY coupling of the Cu spins occurs at Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature in dielectric stripes. Further temperature decreasing leads to the 3D spin glass transition.
Stability of standing flux-antiflux front in anisotropic layered superconductors is considered. We describe two assisting mechanisms destabilizing the standing vortex-antivortex front. There are anisotropy of the layered superconductors and the heat, released by the vortex dynamics. We present the conditions of the front stability for various anisotropy and heating parameters. We predict that even small vortex-antivortex heating can result in front instability. The characteristic size of the unstable pattern is estimated.
We found La2Sb with a layered structure composed of alternate stacking of La square nets and LaSb layers exhibits bulk superconductivity with a critical temperature of 5.3 K. This suggests that the presence of the square net with strong La-La metal bonding is essential for the emergence of superconductivity.
Thermal fluctuation conductivity for a layered superconductor in perpendicular magnetic field is treated in the frame of the self-consistent Hartree approximation for an arbitrarily strong in-plane electric field. The simultaneous application of the two fields results in a slightly stronger suppression of the superconducting fluctuations, compared to the case when the fields are applied individually.
We present first measurements of quantum oscillations in the layered oxide superconductor Ag5Pb2O6. From a detailed angular and temperature dependent study of the dHvA effect we determine the electronic structure and demonstrate that the electron masses are very light, m^* is approximately equalt to 1.2 m_e. The Fermi surface we observe is essentially that expected of nearly-free electrons - establishing Ag5Pb2O6 as the first known example of a monovalent, nearly-free electron superconductor at ambient pressure.
We present the solution to London's equations for the magnetic fields of a vortex oriented parallel to the plane, and normal to a crystal face, of a layered superconductor. These expressions account for flux spreading at the superconducting surface, which can change the apparent size of the vortex along the planes by as much as 30%. We compare these expressions with experimental results.
A hybrid discrete-continuous model of layered superconductors with interlayer Josephson couplings of arbitrary range is constructed. The conditions required by gauge invariance and thermodynamical stability of the model are determined. Some important special cases, in particular transition to the classic Lawrence-Doniach model, are discussed. The conditions for presence of alternating solutions and the posibilities to describe such states of a superconductor by the continuum or bi-continuum models are examined. The enhancement of superconductivity caused by the presence of higher order Josephs…
Motivated by recent transport and magnetization measurements in BSCCO samples [B. Khaykovich et. al., Phys. Rev. B 61, R9261 (2000)], we present a simple macroscopic model describing effects of inhomogeneous current distribution and shear in a layered superconductor. Parameters of the model are deduced from a microscopic calculation. Our model accounts for the strong current non-linearities and the re-entrant temperature dependence observed in the experiment.
In this paper we analyze the structure, phase transitions and some transport properties of the vortex system when the external magnetic field lies parallel to the planes in layered superconductors. We show that experimental results for resistivity are qualitatively consistent with numerical simulations that describe the melting of a commensurate rotated lattice. However for some magnetic fields, the structure factor indicates the occurrence of smectic peaks at an intermediate temperature regime.
We establish a new interstitial-vacancy unbinding transition of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type, transforming the three dimensional pancake vortex lattice of a decoupled layered superconductor into a defected solid. This transition is the natural finite-field extension of the vortex-anti-vortex unbinding transition establishing the zero-field superfluid stiffness. At finite Josephson coupling, the defect unbinding transition turns into a topological decoupling transition.
A general phenomenological theory describing dynamics of Josephson vortices coupled to wide class of linear waves in layered high-T$_c$ superconductors is developed. The theory is based on hydrodynamic long wave approximation and describes interaction of vortices with electromagnetic, electronic and phonon degrees of freedom on an equal footing. In the limiting cases the proposed theory degenerates to simple models considered earlier. In the framework of the suggested model we undertook the numerical simulation of resistive state in layered superconductors placed in external magnetic field and…
Layered superconductors have provided some interesting fields in condensed matter physics owing to the low dimensionality of their electronic states. For example, the high-Tc (high transition temperature) cuprates and the Fe-based superconductors possess a layered crystal structure composed of a stacking of spacer (blocking) layers and conduction (superconducting) layers, CuO2 planes or Fe-Anion layers. The spacer layers provide carriers to the conduction layers and induce exotic superconductivity. Recently, we have reported superconductivity in the novel BiS2-based layered compound Bi4O4S3. I…
Based on the London equation, we use a rotor-free vector potential ${\bf A}$, and current measurements by a SQUID, to determine the superconducting Pearl length $Λ$, and coherence length $ξ$, of ultra-thin, ring shaped, MoSi films, as a function of thickness $d$ and temperature $T$. We find that $ξ$ is a function of $d$ with a jump at $ξ\sim d \sim 5$nm. At base temperature the superconducting stiffness, defined by $1/λ^2=1/(Λd)$, is an increasing function of $T_c$. Similar behavior, known as the Uemura plot, exist in bulk layered superconductors, but with doping as an implicit parameter. We a…
We consider the ground state configurations of the Josephson vortex lattice in layered superconductors. Due to commensurability effects with the layered structure, the lattice has multiple configurations, both aligned with layers and rotated at finite angle. At low fields the lattice switches between these configurations via first-order phase transitions. These transitions become more frequent at smaller fields. With increasing magnetic field a dilute lattice transforms first into a sheared dense lattice. With further increase of field, the shear deformation smoothly vanishes at a second-order…
The time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau approach is used to calculate the complex fluctuation conductivity in layered type-II superconductor under magnetic field. Layered structure of the superconductor is accounted for by means of the Lawrence-Doniach model, while the nonlinear interaction term in dynamics is treated within self-consistent Gaussian approximation. In high-$T_{c}$ materials, large portion of the $H-T$ diagram belongs to vortex liquid phase. The expressions summing contributions of all the Landau levels are presented in explicit form which are applicable essentially to the whole phas…
In BiS$_2$-based layered superconductors,the existence of gap nodes on Fermi-surface curves has been suggested from angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements, whereas the conventional $s$-wave gap has been proposed from measurements of superfluid density and thermal conductivity. To reconcile these two distinct experimental results of the gap node, we investigate nonmagnetic impurity effects in the superconductor with a disconnected pocketlike Fermi-surface structure. Then, we claim that the seemingly contradictory situation concerning the gap node is resolved by a concept of dirt…
The nature of decoupling in the mixed phase of extremely type-II layered superconductors is studied theoretically through a duality transformation of the layered XY model with frustration. In the limit of weak coupling, we generally find that the Josephson effect is absent if and only if the phase correlations within isolated layers are short range. In the case specific to uniform frustration, we notably identify a decoupled pancake vortex liquid phase that is bounded by first-order and second-order decoupling lines in the magnetic field vs. temperature plane. These transitions potentially acc…
We show that a layered superconductor, described by a two-component order parameter, has a gapped state above the ground state, topologically protected from decay, containing flow and counter flow in the absence of an applied magnetic field. This state is made of skyrmions, breaks time reversal symmetry and produces a weak local magnetic field below the present threshold of detection by $μ$SR and NMR/NQR. We estimate the density of carriers that condense into the pseudogap.
The paraconductivity, originating from critical superconducting order-parameter fluctuations in the vicinity of the critical temperature in a layered superconductor is calculated in the frame of the self-consistent Hartree approximation, for an arbitrarily strong electric field and zero magnetic field. The paraconductivity diverges less steep towards the critical temperature in the Hartree approximation than in the Gaussian one and it shows a distinctly enhanced variation with the electric field. Our results indicate that high electric fields can be effectively used to suppress order-parameter…
We have proposed to employ the microwave S parameters method to measure phase oscillation modes (POMs) in Josephson coupled-layered superconductors. For the first time, in SmBa2Cu3O7 (SmBCO) and YBa2Cu3O7-b (YBCO) at 77 K we have directly observed some POMs far below the Josephson plasma frequency. A series of discrete modes have been observed and discussed qualitatively in the POMs. The method may be a powerful and flexible tool in this field.
The behavior of clean layered superconductors in the presence of a finite electric current and in zero-magnetic field behavior is addressed. The structure of the current temperature phase diagram and the properties of each of the four regions will be explained. We will discuss the expected current voltage and resistance characteristics of each region as well as the effects of finite size and weak disorder on the phase diagram. In addition, the reason for which a weakly non-ohmic region exists above the transition temperature will be explained.
The theoretical statements about a restoration of a superconductivity at magnetic fields higher than the quasiclassical upper critical field and a reentrance of superconductivity at temperatures $T_c(H)\approx T_c(0)$ in the superconductors with open Fermi surfaces are reinvestigated taking into account a scattering of quasiparticles on the impurities. The system of integral equations for determination of the upper critical field parallel to the conducting planes in a layered conventional and unconventional superconductors with impurities are derived. The $H_{c2}(T)$ values for the "clean" cas…
The question of whether layer decoupling and vortex-lattice melting occur seperately or not in the mixed phase of pristine layered superconductors in the extreme type-II limit is studied through a partial duality analysis of the layered XY model with uniform frustration. We find that both transitions occur simultaneously if the normal/superconducting transition of the vortex lattice in an isolated layer is first-order and if a sufficient degree of layer anisotropy exists. We also find that a cross-over to a highly entangled vortex lattice phase with relatively low phase rigidity across layers …
We report impact of hydrostatic pressure on the newly discovered BiS2 based superconductors. In last couple of years the new BiS2 based superconductor attracted great attention of the condensed matter physics community. These new layered BiS2-based compounds are very sensitive to the concentration of carriers doping and pressure that cause profound changes in their physical properties with appearance of superconductivity in the vicinity of their insulating/semiconducting state. The BiS2-based new compounds are expected to provide us with the next stage of exploring new superconductors and to d…
The influence of the antiferromagnetic order on the superconductor in the mixed state results in creation of spin-flop domains along the cores of the vortex lines. It is shown that this phenomenon makes possible crossover from quantum creep regime to thermal one, and vice versa, at constant temperature. To do this one needs to simply change the intensity or the direction of applied magnetic field in the basal ${\bf ab}$ plane of layered structure.
Using a conventional BCS -- Fermi liquid model we calculate the c-axis optical reflectivity of the layered high temperature cuprate superconductors by obtaining the finite temperature dynamical dielectric function in a microscopic self-consistent gauge invariant formalism. We get good semi-quantitative agreement with all the existing experimental data by using the measured normal state $dc$ resistivities as the input parameters in obtaining the c-axis hopping amplitude and the normal state level broadening in our microscopic calculation.
The uniformly frustrated layered XY model is analyzed in its Villain form. A decouple pancake vortex liquid phase is identified. It is bounded by both first-order and second-order decoupling lines in the magnetic field versus temperature plane. These transitions, respectively, can account for the flux-lattice melting and for the flux-lattice depinning observed in the mixed phase of clean high-temperature superconductors.
It is shown that the Josephson subsystem of the Lawrence-Doniach model of layered superconductors in the London approximation can be presented as a system with variable number of classical Coulomb particles. This allows us to consider the vortex system of a coupled layered superconductor as the system of these particles and 2D-vortices interacting with each other. The grand partition function of the system was written and transformed into the form of field one. Thermodynamical properties of the model obtained was studied. It is found that there is no a phase transition in the system. Instead o…
The melting transition of the vortex lattice in highly anisotropic, layered superconductors with commensurate, periodic columnar pins is studied in a geometry where magnetic field and columnar pins are normal to the layers. Thermodynamic properties and equilibrium density distributions are obtained from numerical minimizations of an appropriate free-energy functional. We find a line of first-order transitions that ends at a critical point as the pin concentration is increased. A simple Landau theory providing a semi-quantitative explanation of the numerical results is proposed.
The excess Hall conductivity, resulting from thermal fluctuations of the superconducting order parameter, is calculated for a layered superconductor for an arbitrarily strong in-plane electric field and a perpendicular magnetic field in the frame of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory. The fluctuation Hall conductivity is suppressed in high electric fields much stronger than the longitudinal one. For high-temperature superconductors we predict a pronounced non-Ohmic behavior of the excess Hall effect near the critical temperature in moderate magnetic fields and electric fields of the ord…
We consider dynamics of Josephson vortex lattice in layered superconductors with magnetic, charge (electrostatic) and charge-imbalance (quasiparticle) interactions between interlayer Josephson junctions taken into account. The macroscopic dynamical equations for interlayer Josephson phase differences, intralayer charge and electron-hole imbalance are obtained and used for numerical simulations. Different transformations of the vortex lattice structure are observed. It is shown that the additional dissipation due to the charge imbalance relaxation leads to the stability of triangular lattice.
We calculate various thermodynamic quantities of vortex liquids in a layered superconductor by using the nonperturbative parquet approximation method, which was previously used to study the effect of thermal fluctuations in two-dimensional vortex systems. We find there is a first-order transition between two vortex liquid phases which differ in the magnitude of their correlation lengths. As the coupling between the layers increases,the first-order transition line ends at a critical point. We discuss the possible relation between this critical end-point and the disappearance of the first-order …
A density-functional approach is used to calculate the inhomogeneous vortex density distribution in the flux liquid phase at the planar surface of a layered superconductor, where the external magnetic field is perpendicular to the superconducting layers and parallel to the surface. The interactions with image vortices are treated within a mean field approximation as a functional of the vortex density. Near the freezing transition strong vortex density fluctuations are found to persist far into the bulk liquid. We also calculate the height of the Bean-Livingston surface barrier.
We study numerically the time evolution of the transport properties of layered superconductors after different preparations. We show that, in accordance with recent experiments in BSCCO performed in the second peak region of the phase diagram (Portier et al, 2001), the relaxation strongly depends on the initial conditions and is extremely slow. We investigate the dependence on the pinning center density and the perturbation applied. We compare the measurements to recent findings in tapped granular matter and we interpret our results with a rather simple picture.
Equations describing the resistive state of a layered superconductor with anisotropic pairing are derived. The similarity with a stack of Josephson junctions is found at small voltages only, when current density in the direction perpendicular to the layers can be interpreted as a sum of the Josephson superconducting, the Ohmic dissipative and the interference currents. In the spatially uniform state differential conductivity at higher voltages becomes negative. Nonuniformity of the current distribution generates the branch imbalance and violates the Josephson relation between frequency and vol…
By means of first-principles calculations? we have probed the peculiarities of the elecrtonic band structure and Fermi surface for the recently discovered layered superconductor LaO0.5F0.5BiSi2 in comparison with the parent phase LaOBiO2. The electronic factors prpmoting the transition of LaOBiS2 upon fluorine doping to superconducting state: inter-layer charge transfer, the evolution of the Fermi surface, and the dependence of the near-Fermi densities of states on x for LaO1-xFxBiS2 are evaluated and discussed in comparison with the available experiments.
We examine the depinning transitions and the temperature versus driving force phase diagram for magnetically interacting pancake vortices in layered superconductors. For strong disorder the initial depinning is plastic followed by a sharp hysteretic transition to a 3D ordered state for increasing driving force. Our results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions for driven anisotropic charge density wave systems. We also show that a temperature induced peak effect in the critical current occurs due to the onset of plasticity between the layers.
The coupling of Josephson oscillations in layered superconductors is studied with help of a tunneling Hamiltonian formalism. The general form of the current density across the barriers between the superconducting layers is derived. The induced charge fluctuations on the superconducting layers lead to a coupling of the Josephson oscillations in different junctions. A simplified set of equations is then used to study the non-linear dynamics of the system. In particular the influence of the coupling on the current-voltage characteristics is investigated and upper limits for the coupling strength …
We consider the melting of the vortex solid in highly anisotropic layered superconductors with a small concentration of random columnar pinning centers. Using large-scale numerical minimization of a free-energy functional, we find that melting of the low-temperature, nearly crystalline vortex solid (Bragg glass) into a vortex liquid occurs in two steps as the temperature increases: the Bragg glass and liquid phases are separated by an intermediate Bose glass phase. A suitably defined local melting temperature exhibits spatial variation similar to that observed in experiments.
Phase transitions of a flux lattice in layered superconductors with magnetic field perpendicular to the layers and in presence of disorder are studied. We find that disorder generates a random Josephson coupling between layers which leads to a Josephson glass (JG) phase at low temperatures; vanishing of the JG order identifies a depinning transition. We also find that disorder and thermal fluctuations lead to layer decoupling where the renormalized Josephson coupling vanishes. Near decoupling an anharmonic regime is found, where usual elasticity and the resulting Bragg glass are not valid. The…
The Josephson plasma resonance in layered superconductors with alternating critical current densities is investigated in a low perpendicular magnetic field. In the vortex solid phase the current densities and the squared bare plasma frequencies decrease linearly with the magnetic field. Taking into account the coupling due to charge fluctuations on the layers, we extract from recent optical data for SmLa_{1-x} Sr_x CuO_{4-delta} the Josephson penetration length lambda_{ab} approximately 1100 A parallel to the layers at T=10 K.
Superconducting transition temperatures Tc of the YBCO film surface and of the YBCO film/substrate interface were measured inductively. It was observed that the interface- Tc is always higher then the surface - Tc. However deposition of silver over-layer enhances the superconducting transition temperatures. This observation was confirmed by four-point resistance measurements. In the annealed YBCO/Ag bilayers magnetic properties of the interface were observed. We believe that such phenomena are a common feature of layered systems. This two dimensional structure reminds the layered microstructur…
Here presented a systematic study of superconductor-constriction-superconductor contacts realized by a break-junction technique in layered superconductors. Depending on the constriction transparency the tunneling and SnS-Andreev spectroscopies could be used, for the direct determination of values of superconducting gaps, characteristic BCS-ratios and gap temperature dependences in cuprate superconductors, magnesium diboride, novel pnictides and chalcogenides. Basing on these data, one can estimate the gap anisotropy magnitude as well as values of electron-boson coupling constants. We discuss t…
Based on a four-layered self-doped $t-J$ type model and the slave-boson mean-field approach, we study theoretically the superconductivity in the electron-doped and hole-doped layers. The neighbor layers are coupled through both the single electron interlayer hopping and pair tunneling effect. The superconducting gap magnitude for the electron-doped band is nearly twice of that of the hole-doped one, which contrasts to our previous understanding of the electron-hole asymmetry in high-T$_c$ superconductors but consistent with recent angle-resolved-photoemission-spectroscopy experiments in four-l…
Based on a simple model of a layered superconductor with strong attractive interaction, we find that the separation of the pair-condensation temperature from the pair-formation temperature becomes more remarkable as the interlayer hopping gets smaller. We propose from this result the BCS-BEC crossover induced by the change in dimensionality, for instance, due to insertion of additional insulating layers or application of uniaxial pressure. The emergence of a pseudogap in the electronic density of states, which supports the idea of the dimensionality-induced BCS-BEC crossover, is also verified.
In the recent Comment [V. M. Krasnov, Phys. Rev. B vol. 65, 096503 (2002)], the author claims to have ''disproved'' our theoretical conclusion [S. V. Kuplevakhsky, Phys. Rev. B vol. 60, 7496 (1999); Phys. Rev. B vol. 63, 054508 (2001)] that isolated Josephson vortices in layered superconductors and stacked junctions are absolutely unstable in the presence of an external field. We show that this claim has no grounds. Moreover, by solving an appropriate boundary value problem, we obtain a complete classification of soliton (vortex) solutions to coupled static sine-Gordon equations. We also discu…
Superconductivity with exotic properties has often been discovered in materials with a layered (two-dimensional) crystal structure. The low dimensionality affects the electronic structure of materials, which could realize a high transition temperature (Tc) and/or unconventional pairing mechanisms. Here, we report the superconductivity in a layered tin arsenide NaSn2As2. The crystal structure consists of (Sn2As2)2- bilayers, which is bound by van-der-Waals forces, separated by Na+ ions. Measurements of electrical resistivity and specific heat confirm the bulk nature of superconductivity of NaSn…
We study parametric level statistics of the discretized excitation spectra inside a moving vortex core in layered superconductors with impurities. The universal conductivity is evaluated numerically for the various values of rescaled vortex velocities $κ$ from the clean case to the dirty limit case. The random matrix theoretical prediction is verified numerically in the large $κ$ regime. On the contrary in the low velocity regime, we observe $σ_{xx} \propto κ^{2/3}$ which is consistent with the theoretical result for the super-clean case, where the energy dissipation is due to the Landau-Zener…
We predict a complete TM-TE transformation of the polarization of terahertz electromagnetic waves reflected from a strongly anisotropic boundary of a layered superconductor. We consider the case when the wave is incident on the superconductor from a dielectric prism separated from the sample by a thin vacuum gap. The physical origin of the predicted phenomenon is similar to the Wood anomalies known in optics, and is related to the resonance excitation of the oblique surface waves. We also discuss the dispersion relation for these waves, propagating along the boundary of the superconductor at s…
The possibility of enhancing the radiation power and monochromaticity by optically induced photonic crystal in the superconducting cavity is proposed and investigated. In such a structure, by periodically irradiating the stacked Josephson junctions and consequently partially suppression of the superconductivity in the irradiated positions due to depairing, a periodic optical configuration is formed. This leads to photonic band gap opening in the range of the terahertz radiation emitted from the layered superconductor. We show that such a photonic band gap significantly enhances the impedance m…
A layered antiferromagnetic superconductor in the mixed state may posses magnetic domains created along the Josephson vortices. This may happen when an external magnetic field is strong enough to flip over magnetic moments, lying in the phase core of the Josephson vortex, from their ground state configuration. The formation of the domain structure of the vortices modifies the surface energy barrier of the superconductor. During this process the entrance of the flux is stopped and a newly created state exhibits perfect shielding. Such behavior should be visible as a plateau on the dependence of…
