Current distribution for a thin superconducting strip shielded by two ideally conducting plains has been calculated. It is shown that at microwave requencies the current density has maximum over the center of the strip in contrast to the dc current pattern, which exhibits crowding over the edges.
The case of ac transport at in-phase alternating applied magnetic fields for a superconducting rectangular strip with finite thickness has been investigated. The applied magnetic field is considered perpendicular to the current flow. We present numerical calculations assuming the critical state model of the current distribution and ac loss for various values of aspect ratio, transport current and applied field amplitude. A rich phenomenology is obtained due to the metastable nature of the critical state. We perform a detailed comparison with the analytical limits and we discuss their applicability for the actual geometry of superconducting conductors. We also define a loss factor which allow a more detailed analysis of the ac behavior than the ac loss. Finally, we compare the calculations with experiments, showing a significant qualitative and quantitative agreement without any fitting parameter.
We describe progress and initial results achieved towards the goal of developing integrated multi-conductor arrays of shielded controlled-impedance flexible superconducting transmission lines with ultra-miniature cross sections and wide bandwidths (dc to >10 GHz) over meter-scale lengths. Intended primarily for use in future scaled-up quantum computing systems, such flexible thin-film Nb/polyimide ribbon cables provide a physically compact and ultra-low thermal conductance alternative to the rapidly increasing number of discrete coaxial cables that are currently used by quantum computing experimentalists to transmit signals between the low-temperature stages (from ~ 4 K down to ~ 20 mK) of a dilution refrigerator. S-parameters are presented for 2-metal layer Nb microstrip structures with lengths ranging up to 550 mm. Weakly coupled open-circuit microstrip resonators provided a sensitive measure of the overall transmission line loss as a function of frequency, temperature, and power. Two common polyimide dielectrics, one conventional and the other photo-definable (PI-2611 and HD-4100, respectively) were compared. Our most striking result, not previously reported to our knowledge, was that the dielectric loss tangents of both polyimides are remarkably low at deep cryogenic temperatures, typically 100$times$ smaller than corresponding room temperature values. This enables fairly long-distance transmission of microwave signals without excessive attenuation and permits usefully high rf power levels to be transmitted without creating excessive dielectric heating. We observed loss tangents as low as 2.2$times$10$^{-5}$ at 20 mK. Our fabrication techniques could be extended to more complex structures such as multiconductor, multi-layer stripline or rectangular coax, and integrated attenuators and thermalization structures.
The response of superconducting pair-breaking detectors is dependent on the details of the quasiparticle distribution. In Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs), where both pair breaking and non-pair breaking photons are absorbed simultaneously, calculating the detector response therefore requires knowledge of the often nonequilibrium distributions. The quasiparticle effective temperature provides a good approximation to these nonequilibrium distributions. We compare an analytical expression relating absorbed power and the quasiparticle effective temperature in superconducting thin films to full solutions for the nonequilibrium distributions, and find good agreement for a range of materials, absorbed powers, photon frequencies and temperatures typical of KIDs. This analytical expression allows inclusion of nonequilibrium effects in device models without solving for the detailed distributions. We also show our calculations of the frequency dependence of the detector response are in agreement with recent experimental measurements of the response of Ta KIDs at THz frequencies.
The distribution of the transport current in a superconducting filament aligned parallel to the flat surface of a semi-infinite bulk magnet is studied theoretically. An integral equation governing the current distribution in the Meissner state of the filament is derived and solved numerically for various filament-magnet distances and different relative permeabilities. This reveals that the current is depressed on the side of the filament adjacent to the surface of the magnet and enhanced on the averted side. Substantial current redistributions in the filament can already occur for low values of the relative permeability of the magnet, when the distance between the filament and the magnet is short, with evidence of saturation at moderately high values of this quantity, similar to the findings for magnetically shielded strips.
The microwave properties of polycrystalline MgB2 thin films prepared by the so-called in-situ method are investigated. The characterization of the films at microwave frequencies was obtained by a coplanar resonator technique. The analysis of the experimental data results in the determination of penetration depth, surface impedance and complex conductivity. The aim of this work is to set the experimental results in a consistent framework, involving the two-band model in the presence of impurity scattering. The energy gaps are calculated and the contribution of intra- and inter-band scattering is considered. From the comparison between the calculated gap values and the experimental data it turns out that the temperature dependence of the penetration depth can be accounted for by an effective mean energy gap, in agreement with the predictions of Kogan et al. [Phys. Rev. B 69, 132506 (2004)]. On the other hand, the temperature dependence of the real part of the microwave conductivity and of the surface resistance is accounted for by the single smaller gap, in agreement with the work of Jin et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 127006 (2003)]. Since these findings rely on the same calculated gap structure, the required consistency is fulfilled.