We have measured the critical current as a function of magnetic field in short and narrow superconducting aluminum nanowires. In the range of magnetic fields in which vortices can enter a nanowire in a single row, we find regular oscillations of the
critical current as a function of magnetic field. The oscillations are found to correspond to adding a single vortex to the nanowire, with the number of vortices on the nanowire staying constant within each period of the oscillation. This effect can be thought of as a Weber blockade, and the nanowires act as quantum dots for vortices, analogous to the Coulomb blockade for electrons in quantum dots.
We describe a method for fabrication of uniform aluminum nanowires with diameters below 15 nm. Electron beam lithography is used to define narrow wires, which are then etched using a sodium bicarbonate solution, while their resistance is simultaneous
ly measured in-situ. The etching process can be stopped when the desired resistance is reached, and can be restarted at a later time. The resulting nanowires show a superconducting transition as a function of temperature and magnetic field that is consistent with their diameter. The width of the transition is similar to that of the lithographically defined wires, indicating that the etching process is uniform and that the wires are undamaged. This technique allows for precise control over the normal state resistance and can be used to create a variety of aluminum nanodevices.
Effects of disorder on the electronic transport properties of graphene are strongly affected by the Dirac nature of the charge carriers in graphene. This is particularly pronounced near the Dirac point, where relativistic charge carriers cannot effic
iently screen the impurity potential. We have studied time-dependent conductance fluctuations and magnetoresistance in graphene in the close vicinity of the Dirac point. We show that the fluctuations are due to the quantum interference effects due to scattering on impurities, and find an unusually large reduction of the relative noise power in magnetic field, possibly indicating that an additional symmetry plays an important role in this regime.
The relativistic nature of Dirac electrons and holes in graphene profoundly affects the way they interact with impurities. Signatures of the relativistic behavior have been observed recently in scanning tunneling measurements on individual impurities
, but the conductance measurements in this regime are typically dominated by electron and hole puddles. Here we present measurements of quantum interference noise and magnetoresistance in graphene pn junctions. Unlike the conductance, the quantum interference noise can provide access to the scattering at the Dirac point:it is sensitive to the motion of a single impurity, it depends strongly on the fundamental symmetries that describe the system and it is determined by the phase-coherent phenomena which are not necessarily obscured by the puddles. The temperature and the carrier density dependence of resistance fluctuations and magnetoresistance in graphene p-n junctions at low temperatures suggest that the noise is dominated by the quantum interference due to scattering on impurities and that the noise minimum could be used to determine the point where the average carrier density is zero. At larger carrier densities, the amplitude of the noise depends strongly on the sign of the impurity charge, reflecting the fact that the electrons and the holes are scattered by the impurity potential in an asymmetric manner.
The relativistic nature of charge carriers in graphene is expected to lead to an angle- dependent transmission through a potential barrier, where Klein tunneling involves annihilation of an electron and a hole at the edges of the barrier. The signatu
res of Klein tunneling have been observed in gated graphene devices, but the angle dependence of the transmission probability has not been directly observed. Here we show measurements of the angle-dependent transmission through quasi-ballistic graphene heterojunctions with straight and angled leads, in which the barrier height is controlled by a shared gate electrode. Using a balanced differential measurement technique, we isolate the angle-dependent contribution to the resistance from other angle-insensitive, gate-dependent and device-dependent effects. We find large oscillations in the transmission as a function of the barrier height in the case of Klein tunneling at a 45 deg angle, as compared to normal incidence. Our results are consistent with the model that predicts oscillations of the transmission probability due to interference of chiral carriers in a ballistic barrier. The observed angle dependence is the key element behind focusing of electrons and the realization of a Veselago lens in graphene.
We have studied quantum interference between electrons and holes in a split-ring gold interferometer with graphene arms, one of which contained a pn junction. The carrier type, the pn junction and the phase of the oscillations in a magnetic field wer
e controlled by a top gate placed over one of the arms. We observe clear Aharonov-Bohm oscillations at the Dirac point and away from it, regardless of the carrier type in each arm. We also find clear oscillations when one arm of the interferometer contains a single pn junction, allowing us to study the interplay of Aharonov-Bohm effect and Klein tunneling.
We describe a catalyst-free vapor-solid synthesis of bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) nanostructures at ambient pressure with hydrogen as a carrier gas. The nanostructures were synthesized on glass, silicon and mica substrates and the method yields a variet
y of nanostructures: nanowires, nanoribbons, nanoplatelets and nanoflakes. The materials analysis shows high chemical purity in all cases, without sacrificing the crystalline structure of Bi2Se3. Low-temperature measurements of the nanostructures indicate contributions from the surface states with a tunable carrier density. Samples synthesized on flexible mica substrates show no significant change in resistance upon bending, indicating robustness of as-grown Bi2Se3 nanostructures and their suitability for device applications.
Dynamic stencil deposition (DSD) techniques offer a variety of fabrication advantages not possible with traditional lithographic processing, such as the the ability to directly deposit nanostructures with programmable height profiles. However, DSD sy
stems have not enjoyed widespread usage due to their complexity. We demonstrate a simple, low-profile, portable, one-dimensional nanotranslation system that facilitates access to nanoscale DSD abilities. Furthermore we show a variety of fabricated programmable-height nanostructures, including parallel arrays of such structures, and suggest other applications that exploit the unique capabilities of DSD fabrication methods.
We have studied the current through a carbon nanotube quantum dot with one ferromagnetic and one normal-metal lead. For the values of gate voltage at which the normal lead is resonant with the single available non-degenerate energy level on the dot,
we observe a pronounced decrease in the current for one bias direction. We show that this rectification is spin-dependent, and that it stems from the interplay between the spin accumulation and the Coulomb blockade on the quantum dot. Our results imply that the current is spin-polarized for one direction of the bias, and that the degree of spin polarization is fully and precisely tunable using the gate and bias voltages. As the operation of this spin diode does not require high magnetic fields or optics, it could be used as a building block for electrically controlled spintronic devices.
