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Register a new userEnergy transport in strongly disordered superconductors and magnets
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We develop an analytical theory for quantum phase transitions driven by disorder in magnets and superconductors. We study these transitions with a cavity approximation which becomes exact on a Bethe lattice with large branching number. We find two different disordered phases, characterized by very different relaxation rates, which both exhibit strong inhomogeneities typical of glassy physics.
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In most superconductors the transition to the superconducting state is driven by the binding of electrons into Cooper-pairs. The condensation of these pairs into a single, phase coherent, quantum state takes place concomitantly with their formation at the transition temperature, $T_c$. A different scenario occurs in some disordered, amorphous, superconductors: Instead of a pairing-driven transition, incoherent Cooper pairs first pre-form above $T_c$, causing the opening of a pseudogap, and then, at $T_c$, condense into the phase coherent superconducting state. Such a two-step scenario implies the existence of a new energy scale, $Delta_{c}$, driving the collective superconducting transition of the preformed pairs. Here we unveil this energy scale by means of Andreev spectroscopy in superconducting thin films of amorphous indium oxide. We observe two Andreev conductance peaks at $pm Delta_{c}$ that develop only below $T_c$ and for highly disordered films on the verge of the transition to insulator. Our findings demonstrate that amorphous superconducting films provide prototypical disordered quantum systems to explore the collective superfluid transition of preformed Cooper-pairs pairs.
At finite temperatures and magnetic fields, type-II superconductors in the mixed state have a non-zero resistance that is overwhelmingly associated with vortex motion. In this work we study amorphous indium oxide films, which are thicker than the superconducting coherence length, and show that near $B_{c2}$ their resistance in the presence of perpendicular and in-plane magnetic fields becomes almost isotropic. Up to a linear rescaling of the magnetic fields both the equilibrium resistance as well as the non-equilibrium current-voltage characteristics are insensitive to magnetic field orientation suggesting that, for our superconductors, there is no fundamental difference in transport between perpendicular and in-plane magnetic fields. Additionally we show that this near-isotropic behavior extends to the insulating phase of amorphous indium oxide films of larger disorder strength that undergo a magnetic field driven superconductor-insulator transition. This near-isotropic behavior raises questions regarding the role of vortices in transport and the origin of resistance in thin-film superconductors.
The Aharonov-Casher effect is the analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm effect that applies to neutral particles carrying a magnetic moment. This can be manifested by vortices or fluxons flowing in trajectories that encompass an electric charge. These have been predicted to result in a persistent voltage which fluctuates for different sample realizations. Here we show that disordered superconductors exhibit reproducible voltage fluctuation, antisymmetrical with respect to magnetic field, as a function of various parameters such as magnetic field amplitude, field orientations and gate voltage. These results are interpreted as the vortex equivalent of the universal conductance fluctuations typical of mesoscopic disordered metallic systems. We analyze the data in the framework of random matrix theory and show that the fluctuation correlation functions and curvature distributions exhibit behavior which is the fingerprint of Aronov-Casher physics. The results demonstrate the quantum nature of the vortices in highly disordered superconductors both above and below $T_c$.
We use femtosecond optical spectroscopy to systematically measure the primary energy relaxation rate k1 of photoexcited carriers in cuprate and pnictide superconductors. We find that k1 increases monotonically with increased negative strain in the crystallographic a-axis. Generally, the Bardeen-Shockley deformation potential theorem and, specifically, pressure-induced Raman shifts reported in the literature suggest that increased negative strain enhances electron-phonon coupling, which implies that the observed direct correspondence between a and k1 is consistent with the canonical assignment of k1 to the electron-phonon interaction. The well-known non-monotonic dependence of the superconducting critical temperature Tc on the a-axis strain is also reflected in a systematic dependence Tc on k1, with a distinct maximum at intermediate values (~16 ps-1 at room temperature). The empirical non-monotonic systematic variation of Tc with the strength of the electron-phonon interaction provides us with unique insight into the role of electron-phonon interaction in relation to the mechanism of high-Tc superconductivity as a crossover phenomenon.
Superconductor insulator transition in transverse magnetic field is studied in the highly disordered MoC film with the product of the Fermi momentum and the mean free path $k_F*l$ close to unity. Surprisingly, the Zeeman paramagnetic effects dominate over orbital coupling on both sides of the transition. In superconducting state it is evidenced by a high upper critical magnetic field $B_{c2}$, by its square root dependence on temperature, as well as by the Zeeman splitting of the quasiparticle density of states (DOS) measured by scanning tunneling microscopy. At $B_{c2}$ a logarithmic anomaly in DOS is observed. This anomaly is further enhanced in increasing magnetic field, which is explained by the Zeeman splitting of the Altshuler-Aronov DOS driving the system into a more insulating or resistive state. Spin dependent Altshuler-Aronov correction is also needed to explain the transport behavior above $B_{c2}$.
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