We have investigated the properties of the resistive state of the narrow superconducting channel of the length L/xi=10.88 on the basis of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau model. We have demonstrated that the bifurcation points of the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations cause a number of singularities of the current-voltage characteristic of the channel. We have analytically estimated the averaged voltage and the period of the oscillating solution for the relatively small currents. We have also found the range of currents where the system possesses the chaotic behavior.
The current-voltage characteristics of long and narrow superconducting channels are investigated using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations for complex order parameter. We found out that the steps in the current voltage characteristic can be
associated with bifurcations of either steady or oscillatory solution. We revealed typical instabilities which induced the singularities in current-voltage characteristics, and analytically estimated period of oscillations and average voltage in the vicinity of the critical currents. Our results show that these bifurcations can substantially complicate dynamics of the order parameter and eventually lead to appearance of such phenomena as multistability and chaos. The discussed bifurcation phenomena sheds a light on some recent experimental findings.
We theoretically study how the dynamics of the resistive state in narrow superconducting channels shunted by an external resistor depends on channels length $L$, the applied current $j$, and parameter $u$ characterizing the penetration depth of the e
lectric field in the nonequilibrium superconductors. We show that changing $u$ dramatically affects both the behaviour of the current-voltage characteristics of the superconducting channels and the dynamics of their order parameter. Previously, it was demonstrated that when $u$ is less than the critical value $u_{c1}$, which does not depend on $L$, the phase slip centers appear simultaneously at different spots of the channel. Herewith, for $u>u_{c1}$ these centres arise consecutively at the same place. In our work we demonstrate that there is another critical value for $u$. Actually, if $u$ does not exceed a certain value $u_{c2}$, which depends on $L$, the current-voltage characteristic exhibits the step-like behaviour. However, for $u>u_{c2}$ it becomes hysteretic. In this case, with increase of $j$ the steady state, which corresponds to the time independent distribution of the order parameter along the channel, losses its stability at switching current value $j_{sw}$, and time periodic oscillations of both the order parameter and electric filed occur in the channel. As $j$ sweeps down, the periodic dynamics ceases at certain retrapping current value $j_r<j_{sw}$. Shunting the channel by a resistor increases the value of $j_r$, while $j_{sw}$ remains unchanged. Thus, for some high enough conductivity of the shunt $j_r$ and $j_{sw}$ eventually coincide, and the hysteretic loop disappears. We reveal dynamical regimes involved in the hysteresis, and discuss the bifurcation transitions between them.
We report a study of the relaxation time of the restoration of the resistive superconducting state in single crystalline boron-doped diamond using amplitude-modulated absorption of (sub-)THz radiation (AMAR). The films grown on an insulating diamond
substrate have a low carrier density of about 2.5x10^{21} cm^{-3} and a critical temperature of about 2 K. By changing the modulation frequency we find a high-frequency rolloff which we associate with the characterstic time of energy relaxation between the electron and the phonon systems or the relaxation time for nonequilibrium superconductivity. Our main result is that the electron-phonon scattering time varies clearly as T^{-2}, over the accessible temperature range of 1.7 to 2.2 K. In addition, we find, upon approaching the critical temperature T_c, evidence for an increasing relaxation time on both sides of T_c.
This PhD thesis is divided in 6 chapters. In chapter 1 we introduce basic superconducting phenomena. Such as, the BCS theory, the Andreev reflection and the proximity effect, and the charge current transport in superconducting tunnel junctions. In ch
apter 2 we present the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green function formalism used to obtain the results of this thesis, together with clarifying examples corresponding to simple junctions. In chapter 3, the subgap transport properties of a SIF structure are studied. We devote chapter 4 to the study of thermal transport in superconducting nanohybrid structures. In chapter 5, we develop a general theory for the microwave-irradiated high-transmittance superconducting quantum point contact (SQPC), which consists of a thin constriction of superconducting material in which the Andreev states can be observed. The thesis concludes with a summary of the obtained results in chapter 6. The detailed derivation of the quasiclassical equations is presented in the appendix.
Majorana quasiparticles (MQPs) in condensed matter play an important role in strategies for topological quantum computing but still remain elusive. Vortex cores of topological superconductors may accommodate MQPs that appear as the zero-energy vortex
bound state (ZVBS). An iron-based superconductor Fe(Se,Te) possesses a superconducting topological surface state that has been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopies to detect the ZVBS. However, the results are still controversial. Here, we performed spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy with unprecedentedly high energy resolution to clarify the nature of the vortex bound states in Fe(Se,Te). We found the ZVBS at 0 $pm$ 20 $mu$eV suggesting its MQP origin, and revealed that some vortices host the ZVBS while others do not. The fraction of vortices hosting the ZVBS decreases with increasing magnetic field, while chemical and electronic quenched disorders are apparently unrelated to the ZVBS. These observations elucidate the conditions to achieve the ZVBS, and may lead to controlling MQPs.