arXiv subjects

C. Strunk

Publications and source records attributed to C. Strunk.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Intrinsic non-linear conduction in the super-insulating state of thin TiN films

We investigate experimentally the electric transport at the insulating side of the superconductor to insulator transition in thin TiN-films. At temperatures T > 50 mK we observe an Arrhenius-type conductance, with an activation energy depending logarithmically on the sample size. At high bias the current voltage (I-V) characteristics display a large current jump into an electron heating dominated regime. For the largest samples, and below 50 mK we observe a low-bias power law I ~ V^alpha characteristics with an exponent alpha > 1 rapidly growing with decreasing temperature, which is expected for a binding-unbinding crossover of the charge-Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2010

Direct observation of band-gap closure for a semiconducting carbon nanotube in a large parallel magnetic field

We have investigated the magnetoconductance of semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in pulsed, parallel magnetic fields up to 60 T, and report the direct observation of the predicted band-gap closure and the reopening of the gap under variation of the applied magnetic field. We also highlight the important influence of mechanical strain on the magnetoconductance of the CNTs.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Finite-temperature magnetism of Fe$_x$Pd$_{1-x}$ and Co$_x$Pt$_{1-x}$ alloys

The finite-temperature magnetic properties of Fe$_x$Pd$_{1-x}$ and Co$_x$Pt$_{1-x}$ alloys have been investigated. It is shown that the temperature-dependent magnetic behaviour of alloys, composed of originally magnetic and non-magnetic elements, cannot be described properly unless the coupling between magnetic moments at magnetic atoms (Fe,Co) mediated through the interactions with induced magnetic moments of non-magnetic atoms (Pd,Pt) is included. A scheme for the calculation of the Curie temperature ($T_C$) for this type of systems is presented which is based on the extended Heisenberg Hamiltonian with the appropriate exchange parameters $J_{ij}$ obtained from {\em ab-initio} electronic structure calculations. Within the present study the KKR Green's function method has been used to calculate the $J_{ij}$ parameters. A comparison of the obtained Curie temperatures for Fe$_x$Pd$_{1-x}$ and Co$_x$Pt$_{1-x}$ alloys with experimental data shows rather good agreement.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Spin-orbit interaction in chiral carbon nanotubes probed in pulsed magnetic fields

The magneto-conductance of an open carbon nanotube (CNT)-quantum wire was measured in pulsed magnetic fields. At low temperatures we find a peculiar split magneto-conductance peak close to the charge neutrality point. Our analysis of the data reveals that this splitting is intimately connected to the spin-orbit interaction and the tube chirality. Band structure calculations suggest that the current in the peak regions is highly spin-polarized, which calls for application in future CNT-based spintronic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Measurement of the Transmission Phase through a Quantum Dot Embedded in One Arm of an Electronic Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

We investigate an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer with high visibility in the quantum Hall regime. The superposition of the electrostatic potentials from a quantum point contact (QPC) and the residual disorder potential from doping impurities frequently results in the formation of inadvertent quantum dots (QD) in one arm of the interferometer. This gives rise to resonances in the QPC transmission characteristics. While crossing the QD resonance in energy, the interferometer gains a phase shift of $π$ in the interference pattern.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Doppler Shift in Andreev Reflection from a Moving Superconducting Condensate in Nb/InAs Josephson Junctions

We study narrow ballistic Josephson weak links in a InAs quantum wells contacted by Nb electrodes and find a dramatic magnetic-field suppression of the Andreev reflection amplitude, which occurs even for in-plane field orientation with essentially no magnetic flux through the junction. Our observations demonstrate the presence of a Doppler shift in the energy of the Andreev levels, which results from diamagnetic screening currents in the hybrid Nb/InAs-banks. The data for conductance, excess and critical currents can be consistently explained in terms of the sample geometry and the McMillan energy, characterizing the transparency of the Nb/InAs-interface.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Carbon Nanotubes as Cooper Pair Beam Splitters

We report on conductance measurements in carbon nanotube based double quantum dots connected to two normal electrodes and a central superconducting finger. By operating our devices as beam splitters, we provide evidence for Crossed Andreev Reflections \textit{tunable in situ}. This opens an avenue to more sophisticated quantum optics-like experiments with spin entangled electrons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Effect of Microwaves on the Current-Phase-Relation in SNS Josephson Junctions

We investigate the current-phase-relation (CPR) of long diffusive superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) Josephson junctions in thermodynamic equilibrium and under microwave irradiation. While in equilibrium good agreement with the predictions of quasi-classical theory is found, we observe that the shape of the CPR can be strongly affected by microwave irradiation. Close to a Josephson-phase difference of pi, the supercurrent can be strongly suppressed when increasing the rf-power. Our results can be understood in terms of microwave excitation of low-lying Andreev bound states across the mini-gap in the junction. In the frequency interval studied, this mechanism becomes important when the mini-gap closes at a phase difference of pi.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Hyperactivated resistance in TiN films on the insulating side of the disorder-driven superconductor-insulator transition

We investigate the insulating phase that forms in a titanium nitride film in a close vicinity of the disorder-driven superconductor-insulator transition. In zero magnetic field the temperature dependence of the resistance reveals a sequence of distinct regimes upon decreasing temperature crossing over from logarithmic to activated behavior with the variable-range hopping squeezing in between. In perpendicular magnetic fields below 2 T, the thermally activated regime retains at intermediate temperatures, whereas at ultralow temperatures, the resistance increases faster than that of the thermally activated type. This indicates a change of the mechanism of the conductivity. We find that at higher magnetic fields the thermally activated behavior disappears and the magnetoresistive isotherms saturate towards the value close to quantum resistance h/e^2.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2008

Edge Channel Interference Controlled by Landau Level Filling

We study the visibility of Aharonov-Bohm interference in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) in the integer quantum Hall regime. The visibility is controlled by the filling factor $ν$ and is observed only between $ν\approx 2.0$ and 1.0, with an unexpected maximum near $ν=1.5$. Three energy scales extracted from the temperature and voltage dependences of the visibility change in a very similar way with the filling factor, indicating that the different aspects of the interference depend sensitively on the local structure of the compressible and incompressible strips forming the quantum Hall edge channels.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2008

Localized Superconductivity in the Quantum-Critical Region of the Disorder-Driven Superconductor-Insulator Transition in TiN Thin Films

We investigate low-temperature transport properties of thin TiN superconducting films in the vicinity of the disorder-driven superconductor-insulator transition. In a zero magnetic field, we find an extremely sharp separation between superconducting and insulating phases, evidencing a direct superconductor-insulator transition without an intermediate metallic phase. At moderate temperatures, in the insulating films we reveal thermally activated conductivity with the magnetic field-dependent activation energy. At very low temperatures, we observe a zero-conductivity state, which is destroyed at some depinning threshold voltage V_T. These findings indicate formation of a distinct collective state of the localized Cooper pairs in the critical region at both sides of the transition.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2007

Bistability in superconducting rings containing an inhomogeneous Josephson junction

We investigate the magnetic response of a superconducting Nb ring containing a ferromagnetic PdNi Josephson junction and a tunnel junction in parallel. A doubling of the switching frequency is observed within certain intervals of the external magnetic field. Assuming sinusoidal current-phase relations of both junctions our model of a dc-SQUID embedded within a superconducting ring explains this feature by a sequence of current reversals in the ferromagnetic section of the junction in these field intervals. The switching anomalies are induced by the coupling between the magnetic fluxes in the two superconducting loops.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2007

Quantum Metallicity on the High-Field Side of the Superconductor-Insulator Transition

We investigate ultrathin superconducting TiN films, which are very close to the localization threshold. Perpendicular magnetic field drives the films from the superconducting to an insulating state, with very high resistance. Further increase of the magnetic field leads to an exponential decay of the resistance towards a finite value. In the limit of low temperatures, the saturation value can be very accurately extrapolated to the universal quantum resistance h/e^2. Our analysis suggests that at high magnetic fields a new ground state, distinct from the normal metallic state occurring above the superconducting transition temperature, is formed. A comparison with other studies on different materials indicates that the quantum metallic phase following the magnetic-field-induced insulating phase is a generic property of systems close to the disorder-driven superconductor-insulator transition.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2006

Decoherence and single electron charging in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer

We investigate the temperature and voltage dependence of the quantum interference in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer using edge channels in the integer quantum-Hall-regime. The amplitude of the interference fringes is significantly smaller than expected from theory; nevertheless the functional dependence of the visibility on temperature and bias voltage agrees very well with theoretical predictions. Superimposed on the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations, a conductance oscillation with six times smaller period is observed. The latter depends only on gate voltage and not on the AB-phase, and may be related to single electron charging.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2006

Competition between magnetic field dependent band structure and coherent backscattering in multiwall carbon nanotubes

Magnetotransport measurements in large diameter multiwall carbon nanotubes (20-40 nm) demonstrate the competition of a magnetic-field dependent bandstructure and Altshuler-Aronov-Spivak oscillations. By means of an efficient capacitive coupling to a backgate electrode, the magnetoconductance oscillations are explored as a function of Fermi level shift. Changing the magnetic field orientation with respect to the tube axis and by ensemble averaging, allows to identify the contributions of different Aharonov-Bohm phases. The results are in qualitative agreement with numerical calculations of the band structure and the conductance.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2006

Nonlocal vortex motion in mesoscopic amorphous Nb0.7Ge0.3 structures

We study nonlocal vortex transport in mesoscopic amorphous Nb0.7Ge0.3 samples. A dc current I is passed through a wire connected via a perpendicular channel, of a length L= 2-5 um, with a pair of voltage probes where a nonlocal response Vnl ~ I is measured. The maximum of Rnl=Vnl/I for a given temperature occurs at an L-independent magnetic field and is proportional to 1/L. The results are interpreted in terms of the dissipative vortex motion along the channel driven by a remote current, and can be understood in terms of a simple model.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Strongly nonequilibrium flux flow in the presence of perforating submicron holes

We report on the effects of perforating submicron holes on the vortex dynamics of amorphous Nb0.7Ge0.3 microbridges in the strongly nonequilibrium mixed state, when vortex properties change substantially. In contrast to the weak nonequilibrium - when the presence of holes may result in either an increase (close to Tc) or a decrease (well below Tc) of the dissipation, in the strong nonequilibrium an enhanced dissipation is observed irrespectively of the bath temperature. Close to Tc this enhancement is similar to that in the weak nonequilibrium, but corresponds to vortices shrunk due to the Larkin-Ovchinnikov mechanism. At low temperatures the enhancement is a consequence of a weakening of the flux pinning by the holes in a regime where electron heating dominates the superconducting properties.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Superconductivity on the localization threshold and magnetic-field-tuned superconductor-insulator transition in TiN films

Temperature- and magnetic-field dependent measurements of the resistance of ultrathin superconducting TiN films are presented. The analysis of the temperature dependence of the zero field resistance indicates an underlying insulating behavior, when the contribution of Aslamasov-Larkin fluctuations is taken into account. This demonstrates the possibility of coexistence of the superconducting and insulating phases and of a direct transition from the one to the other. The scaling behavior of magnetic field data is in accordance with a superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) driven by quantum phase fluctuations in two-dimensional superconductor. The temperature dependence of the isomagnetic resistance data on the high-field side of the SIT has been analyzed and the presence of an insulating phase was confirmed. A transition from the insulating to a metallic phase is found at high magnetic fields, where the zero-temperature asymptotic value of the resistance being equal to h/e^2.

cond-mat.supr-con↗