arXiv subjects

Antonio M. Garcia-Garcia

Publications and source records attributed to Antonio M. Garcia-Garcia.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2017

Optical signatures of the superconducting Goldstone mode in granular aluminum: experiments and theory

Recent advances in the experimental growth and control of disordered thin films, heterostructures, and interfaces provide a fertile ground for the observation and characterisation of the collective superconducting excitations emerging below $T_c$ after breaking the $U(1)$ gauge symmetry. Here we combine THz experiments in a nano-structured granular Al thin film and theoretical calculations to demonstrate the existence of optically-active phase modes, which represent the Goldstone excitations of the broken gauge symmetry. By measuring the complex transmission trough the sample we identify a sizeable and temperature-dependent optical sub-gap absorption, which cannot be ascribed to quasiparticle excitations. A quantitative modelling of this material as a disordered Josephson array of nano-grains allows us to determine, with no free parameters, the structure of the spatial inhomogeneities induced by shell effects. Besides being responsible for the enhancement of the critical temperature with respect to bulk Al, already observed in the past, this spatial inhomogeneity provides a mechanism for the optical visibility of the Goldstone mode. By computing explicitly the optical spectrum of the superconducting phase fluctuations we obtain a good quantitative description of the experimental data. Our results demonstrate that nanograins arrays are a promising setting to study and control the collective superconducting excitations via optical means.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Defect formation beyond Kibble-Zurek mechanism and holography

We study the dynamic after a smooth quench across a continuous transition from the disordered phase to the ordered phase. Based on scaling ideas, linear response and the spectrum of unstable modes, we develop a theoretical framework, valid for any second order phase transition, for the early-time evolution of the condensate in the broken phase. Our analysis unveils a novel period of non-adiabatic evolution after the system passes through the phase transition, where a parametrically large amount of coarsening occurs before a well-defined condensate forms. Our formalism predicts a rate of defect formation parametrically smaller than the Kibble-Zurek prediction and yields a criterion for the break-down of Kibble-Zurek scaling for sufficiently fast quenches. We numerically test our formalism for a thermal quench in a 2 + 1 dimensional holographic superfluid. These findings, of direct relevance in a broad range of fields including cold atom, condensed matter, statistical mechanism and cosmology, are an important step towards a more quantitative understanding of dynamical phase transitions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Comment on arXiv:1301.3829 and Reply to 'Comment on "Can disorder really enhance superconductivity?"' arXiv:1501.05148 by I.M. Suslov

In arXiv:1301.3829 and arXiv:1501.05148 I. M. Suslov proposes a theoretical description for the interplay between disorder and superconductivity that, among other things, claims to predict situations where superconductivity is enhanced by disorder. In this comment we show that Suslov's results do not make any sound predictions relating to this problem. Suslov also suggests that the percolation approach recently employed by the authors to compute the global critical temperature of inhomogeneous superconductors induced by weak multifractality is not satisfactory. We refute Suslov's opinion using simple ideas from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schiaffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity. More importantly we stress that our theory makes quantitative analytical predictions for observables such as the global critical temperature and the spatial distribution of the order parameter. Our work can therefore be easily confirmed or disproved through either numerical or experimental study.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2012

Quantum quenches in disordered systems: Approach to thermal equilibrium without a typical relaxation time

We study spectral properties and the dynamics after a quench of one-dimensional spinless fermions with short-range interactions and long-range random hopping. We show that a sufficiently fast decay of the hopping term promotes localization effects at finite temperature, which prevents thermalization even if the classical motion is chaotic. For slower decays, we find that thermalization does occur. However, within this model, the latter regime falls in an unexpected universality class, namely, observables exhibit a power-law (as opposed to an exponential) approach to their thermal expectation values.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2012

Testing the universality of the many-body metal-insulator transition by time evolution of a disordered one-dimensional ultracold fermionic gas

It is now possible to study experimentally the combined effect of disorder and interactions in cold atom physics. Motivated by these developments we investigate the dynamics around the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in a one-dimensional (1D) Fermi gas with short-range interactions in a quasiperiodic potential by the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group (tDMRG) technique. By tuning disorder and interactions we study the MIT from the weakly to the strongly interacting limit. The MIT is not universal as time evolution, well described by a process of anomalous diffusion, depends qualitatively on the interaction strength. By using scaling ideas we relate the parameter that controls the diffusion process with the critical exponent that describes the divergence of the localization length. In the limit of strong interactions theoretical arguments suggest that the motion at the MIT tends to ballistic and critical exponents approach mean-field predictions.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2011

Quantifying fluctuations from the tunnelling differential conductance

Dynes ansatz is a broadly utilized procedure to extract the superconducting energy gap from the tunnelling differential conductance, a quantity that is measured by scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) techniques. In this letter we investigate the limit of applicability of this ansatz in nano-scale superconductors and propose a generalization that permits to study thermal and quantum fluctuations in STM experiments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2011

Experimental observation of thermal fluctuations in single superconducting Pb nanoparticles through tunneling measurements

An important question in the physics of superconducting nanostructures is the role of thermal fluctuations on superconductivity in the zero-dimensional limit. Here, we probe the evolution of superconductivity as a function of temperature and particle size in single, isolated Pb nanoparticles. Accurate determination of the size and shape of each nanoparticle makes our system a good model to quantitatively compare the experimental findings with theoretical predictions. In particular, we study the role of thermal fluctuations (TF) on the tunneling density of states (DOS) and the superconducting energy gap (D) in these nanoparticles. For the smallest particles, h < 13nm, we clearly observe a finite energy gap beyond Tc giving rise to a "critical region". We show explicitly through quantitative theoretical calculations that these deviations from mean-field predictions are caused by TF. Moreover, for T << Tc, where TF are negligible, and typical sizes below 20 nm, we show that D gradually decreases with reduction in particle size. This result is described by a theoretical model that includes finite size effects and zero temperature leading order corrections to the mean field formalism.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

BCS superconductivity in metallic nanograins: Finite-size corrections, low energy excitations, and robustness of shell effects

We combine the BCS self-consistency condition, a semiclassical expansion for the spectral density and interaction matrix elements to describe analytically how the superconducting gap depends on the size and shape of a 2d and 3d superconducting grain. In chaotic grains mesoscopic fluctuations of the matrix elements lead to a smooth dependence of the order parameter on the excitation energy. In the integrable case we find shell effects i. e. for certain values of the electron number $N$ a small change in N leads to large changes in the energy gap. With regard to possible experimental tests we provide a detailed analysis of the dependence of the gap on the coherence length and the robustness of shell effects under small geometrical deformations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Stability of the superfluid state in a disordered 1D ultracold fermionic gas

We study a 1D Fermi gas with attractive short range-interactions in a disordered potential by the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) technique. This setting can be implemented experimentally by using cold atom techniques. We identify a region of parameters for which disorder enhances the superfluid state. As disorder is further increased, global superfluidity eventually breaks down. However this transition occurs before the transition to the insulator state takes place. This suggests the existence of an intermediate metallic `pseudogap' phase characterized by strong pairing but no quasi long-range order.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Localization in fractal and multifractal media

The propagation of waves in highly inhomogeneous media is a problem of interest in multiple fields including seismology, acoustics and electromagnetism. It is also relevant for technological applications such as the design of sound absorbing materials or the fabrication of optically devices for multi-wavelength operation. A paradigmatic example of a highly inhomogeneous media is one in which the density or stiffness has fractal or multifractal properties. We investigate wave propagation in one dimensional media with these features. We have found that, for weak disorder, localization effects do not arrest wave propagation provided that the box fractal dimension D of the density profile is D < 3/2. This result holds for both fractal and multifractal media providing thus a simple universal characterization for the existence of localization in these systems. Moreover we show that our model verifies the scaling theory of localization and discuss practical applications of our results.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2009

A holographic approach to phase transitions

We provide a description of phase transitions at finite temperature in strongly coupled field theories using holography. For this purpose, we introduce a general class of gravity duals to superconducting theories that exhibit various types of phase transitions (first or second order with both mean and non-mean field behavior) as parameters in their Lagrangian are changed. Moreover the size and strength of the conductivity coherence peak can also be controlled. Our results suggest that certain parameters in the gravitational dual control the interactions responsible for binding the condensate and the magnitude of its fluctuations close to the transition.

hep-th↗

arXiv2009

Differentiable potentials and metallic states in disordered one-dimensional systems

We provide evidence that as a general rule Anderson localization effects become weaker as the degree of differentiability of the disordered potential increases. In one dimension a band of metallic states exists provided that the disordered potential is sufficiently correlated and has some minimum degree of differentiability. Several examples are studied in detail. In agreement with the one parameter scaling theory the motion in the metallic region is ballistic if the spectral density is smooth. Finally, we study the most promising settings to observe these results in the context of cold atoms.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2008

Anderson transition in a three dimensional kicked rotor

We investigate Anderson localization in a three dimensional (3d) kicked rotor. By a finite size scaling analysis we have identified a mobility edge for a certain value of the kicking strength $k = k_c$. For $k > k_c$ dynamical localization does not occur, all eigenstates are delocalized and the spectral correlations are well described by Wigner-Dyson statistics. This can be understood by mapping the kicked rotor problem onto a 3d Anderson model (AM) where a band of metallic states exists for sufficiently weak disorder. Around the critical region $k \approx k_c$ we have carried out a detailed study of the level statistics and quantum diffusion. In agreement with the predictions of the one parameter scaling theory (OPT) and with previous numerical simulations of a 3d AM at the transition, the number variance is linear, level repulsion is still observed and quantum diffusion is anomalous with $ \propto t^{2/3}$. We note that in the 3d kicked rotor the dynamics is not random but deterministic. In order to estimate the differences between these two situations we have studied a 3d kicked rotor in which the kinetic term of the associated evolution matrix is random. A detailed numerical comparison shows that the differences between the two cases are relatively small. However in the deterministic case only a small set of irrational periods was used. A qualitative analysis of a much larger set suggests that the deviations between the random and the deterministic kicked rotor can be important for certain choices of periods. Contrary to intuition correlations in the deterministic case can either suppress or enhance Anderson localization effects.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2008

A semiclassical theory of the Anderson transition

We study analytically the metal-insulator transition in a disordered conductor by combining the self-consistent theory of localization with the one parameter scaling theory. We provide explicit expressions of the critical exponents and the critical disorder as a function of the spatial dimensionality, $d$. The critical exponent $ν$ controlling the divergence of the localization length at the transition is found to be $ν= {1 \over 2}+ {1 \over {d-2}}$. This result confirms that the upper critical dimension is infinity. Level statistics are investigated in detail. We show that the two level correlation function decays exponentially and the number variance is linear with a slope which is an increasing function of the spatial dimensionality.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2008

BCS theory for finite size superconductors

We study finite size effects in superconducting metallic grains and determine the BCS order parameter and the low energy excitation spectrum in terms of size, and shape of the grain. Our approach combines the BCS self-consistency condition, a semiclassical expansion for the spectral density and interaction matrix elements, and corrections to the BCS mean-field. In chaotic grains mesoscopic fluctuations of the matrix elements lead to a smooth dependence of the order parameter on the excitation energy. In the integrable case we observe shell effects when e.g. a small change in the electron number leads to large changes in the energy gap.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Is the chiral phase transition induced by a metal-insulator transition?

We investigate the QCD Dirac operator with gauge configurations given by a liquid of instantons in the region of temperatures about the chiral phase transition. Both the quenched and unquenched cases are examined in detail. We present evidence of a localization transition in the low lying modes of the Dirac operator around the same temperature as the chiral phase transition. Thus both level statistics and eigenvectors of the QCD Dirac operator at the chiral phase transition have similar properties than those of a disordered conductor at the metal-insulator transition. This strongly suggests the phenomenon of Anderson localization (localization by destructive quantum interference) is the leading physical mechanism in the restoration of the chiral symmetry. Finally we argue that our findings are not in principle restricted to the ILM approximation and may also be found in lattice simulations.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Anderson localization in quantum chaos: scaling and universality

The one parameter scaling theory is a powerful tool to investigate Anderson localization effects in disordered systems. In this paper we show this theory can be adapted to the context of quantum chaos provided that the classical phase space is homogeneous, not mixed. The localization problem in this case is defined in momentum, not in real space. We then employ the one parameter scaling theory to: a) propose a precise characterization of the type of classical dynamics related to the Wigner-Dyson and Poisson statistics which also predicts in what situations Anderson localization corrections invalidate the relation between classical chaos and random matrix theory encoded in the Bohigas-Schmit-Giannoni conjecture, b) to identify the universality class associated with the metal-insulator transition in quantum chaos. In low dimensions it is characterized by classical superdiffusion, in higher dimensions it has in general a quantum origin as in the case of disordered systems. We illustrate these two cases by studying 1$d$ kicked rotors with non analytical potentials and a 3$d$ kicked rotor with a smooth potential.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2007

Universality in quantum chaos and the one parameter scaling theory

We adapt the one parameter scaling theory (OPT) to the context of quantum chaos. As a result we propose a more precise characterization of the universality classes associated to Wigner-Dyson and Poisson statistics which takes into account Anderson localization effects. Based also on the OPT we predict a new universality class in quantum chaos related to the metal-insulator transition and provide several examples. In low dimensions it is characterized by classical superdiffusion or a fractal spectrum, in higher dimensions it can also have a purely quantum origin as in the case of disordered systems. Our findings open the possibility of studying the metal insulator transition experimentally in a much broader type of systems.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗