In order to investigate the origin of the until now unaccounted excess noise and to minimize the uncontrollable phenomena at the transition in X-ray microcalorimeters we have developed superconducting transition-edge sensors into an edgeless geometry, the so-called Corbino disk (CorTES), with superconducting contacts in the centre and at the outer perimeter. The measured rms current noise and its spectral density can be modeled as resistance noise resulting from fluctuations near the equilibrium superconductor-normal metal boundary
We have studied the origin of excess noise in superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES) with several different detector designs. We show that most of the observed noise and complex impedance features can be explained by a thermal model consisting of three bodies. We suggest that one of the thermal blocks and the corresponding thermal fluctuation noise arises due to the high-frequency thermal decoupling of the normal and superconducting phase regions inside the TES film. Our results are also consistent with the prediction that in thin bilayer proximitized superconductors, the jump in heat capacity at the critical temperature is smaller than the universal BCS theory result.
We study the phase transition between the normal and non-uniform (Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov) superconducting state in quasi two-dimensional d-wave superconductors at finite temperature. We obtain an appropriate Ginzburg-Landau theory for this transition, in which the fluctuation spectrum of the order parameter has a set of minima at non-zero momenta. The momentum shell renormalization group procedure combined with dimensional expansion is then applied to analyze the phase structure of the theory. We find that all fixed points have more than one relevant directions, indicating the transition is of the fluctuation-driven first order type for this universality class.
The so-called excess noise limits the energy resolution of transition-edge sensor (TES) detectors, and its physical origin has been unclear, with many competing models proposed. Here we present the noise and impedance data analysis of a rectangular X-ray Ti/Au TES fabricated at SRON. To account for all the major features in the impedance and noise data simultaneously, we have used a thermal model consisting of three blocks of heat capacities, whereas a two-block model is clearly insufficient. The implication is that, for these detectors, the excess noise is simply thermal fluctuation noise of the internal parts of the device. Equations for the impedance and noise for a three-block model are also given.
We have recently shown that normal-metal/superconductor (N/S) bilayer TESs (superconducting Transition-Edge Sensors) exhibit weak-link behavior.1 Here we extend our understanding to include TESs with added noise-mitigating normal-metal structures (N structures). We find TESs with added Au structures also exhibit weak-link behavior as evidenced by exponential temperature dependence of the critical current and Josephson-like oscillations of the critical current with applied magnetic field. We explain our results in terms of an effect converse to the longitudinal proximity effect (LoPE)1, the lateral inverse proximity effect (LaiPE), for which the order parameter in the N/S bilayer is reduced due to the neighboring N structures. Resistance and critical current measurements are presented as a function of temperature and magnetic field taken on square Mo/Au bilayer TESs with lengths ranging from 8 to 130 {mu}m with and without added N structures. We observe the inverse proximity effect on the bilayer over in-plane distances many tens of microns and find the transition shifts to lower temperatures scale approximately as the inverse square of the in- plane N-structure separation distance, without appreciable broadening of the transition width. We also present evidence for nonequilbrium superconductivity and estimate a quasiparticle lifetime of 1.8 times 10-10 s for the bilayer. The LoPE model is also used to explain the increased conductivity at temperatures above the bilayers steep resistive transition.
The quantum critical Antiferromagnetic (AFM) fluctuation spectra measured by inelastic neutron scattering recently in two heavy fermion superconductors are used together with their other measured properties to calculate their D-wave superconducting transition temperatures $T_{rm c}$. To this end, the linearized Eliashberg equations for D-wave superconductivity induced by AFM fluctuations are solved in models of fermions with various levels of nesting. The results for the ratio of $T_{rm c}$ to the characteristic spin-fluctuation energy are well parametrized by a dimensionless coupling constant and the AFM correlation length. Comparing the results with experiments suggests that one may reasonably conclude that superconductivity in these compounds is indeed caused by AFM fluctuations. This conclusion is strengthened by a calculation with the same parameters of the measured coefficient of the normal state quantum-critical resistivity $propto T^{3/2}$ characteristic of {it gaussian} AFM quantum-critical fluctuations. The calculations give details of the superconducting coupling as a function of the correlation length and the integrated fluctuation spectra useful in other compounds.