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E. V. Bezuglyi

Publications and source records attributed to E. V. Bezuglyi.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Subgap current in superconducting tunnel junctions with diffusive electrodes

We calculate the subgap current in planar superconducting tunnel junctions with thin-film diffusive leads. It is found that the subharmonic gap structure of the tunnel current scales with an effective tunneling transparency which may exceed the junction transparency by up to two orders of magnitude depending on the junction geometry and the ratio between the coherence length and the elastic scattering length. These results provide an alternative explanation of anomalously high values of the subgap current in tunnelling experiments often ascribed to imperfection of the insulating layer. We also discuss the effect of finite lifetime of quasiparticles as the possible origin of additional enhancement of multiparticle tunnel currents.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Nonequilibrium effects in tunnel Josephson junctions

We study nonequilibrium effects in current transport through voltage biased tunnel junction with long diffusive superconducting leads at low applied voltage, $eV \ll 2Δ$, and finite temperatures. Due to a small value of the Josephson frequency, the quasiparticle spectrum adiabatically follows the time evolution of the superconducting phase difference, which results in the formation of oscillating bound states in the vicinity of the tunnel junction (Andreev band). The quasiparticles trapped by the Andreev band generate higher even harmonics of the Josephson ac current, and also, in the presence of inelastic scattering, a non-equilibrium dc current, which may considerably exceed the dc quasiparticle current given by the tunnel model. The distribution of travelling quasiparticles also deviates from the equilibrium due to the spectrum oscillations, which results in an additional contribution to the dc current, proportional to $\sqrt{V}$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Wigner distribution function formalism for superconductors and collisionless dynamics of the superconducting order parameter

A technique to study collisionless dynamics of a homogeneous superconducting system is developed, which is based on Riccati parametrization of Wigner distribution function. The quantum evolution of the superconductiung order parameter, initially deviated from the equilibrium value, is calculated using this technique. The effect of a time-dependent BCS paring interaction on the dynamics of the order parameter is also studied.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Phase dependent current statistics in short-arm Andreev interferometer

We calculate analytically the current statistics for a short diffusive wire between the normal reservoir and a short superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) junction, at arbitrary applied voltages and temperatures. The cumulant-generating function oscillates with the phase difference $ϕ$ across the junction, approaching the normal-state value at $ϕ=π$. At T=0 and at the applied voltage much smaller than the proximity gap $Δ_ϕ$, the current noise $P_I$ doubles and the third current cumulant $C_3$ is 4 times larger with respect to their values in the normal state; at $eV \gg Δ_ϕ$ they acquire large excess components. At the gap edge, $eV = Δ_ϕ$, the effective transferred charge defined through $dP_I/dI$ and $dP_I/dV$ approaches $0e$ and $3e$, respectively, which makes doubtful the interpretation of these quantities as physical elementary transferred charge. At $T \neq 0$, $C_3$ shows a non-monotonous voltage dependence with a dip near $eV = Δ_ϕ$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Coherent current transport in wide ballistic Josephson junctions

We present an experimental and theoretical investigation of coherent current transport in wide ballistic superconductor-two dimensional electron gas-superconductor junctions. It is found experimentally that upon increasing the junction length, the subharmonic gap structure in the current-voltage characteristics is shifted to lower voltages, and the excess current at voltages much larger than the superconducting gap decreases. Applying a theory of coherent multiple Andreev reflection, we show that these observations can be explained in terms of transport through Andreev resonances.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Heat transport in proximity structures

We study heat and charge transport through a normal diffusive wire coupled with a superconducting wire over the region smaller than the coherence length. Due to partial Andreev reflection of quasiparticles from the interface, the subgap thermal flow is essentially suppressed and approaches zero along with energy, which is specific for diffusive structures. Whereas the electric conductance shows conventional reentrance effect, the thermal conductance rapidly decreases with temperature which qualitatively explains the results of recent experiments. In the Andreev interferometer geometry, the thermal conductance experiences full-scale oscillations with the order parameter phase difference.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Nonequilibrium Josephson effect in short-arm diffusive SNS interferometers

We study non-equilibrium Josephson effect and phase-dependent conductance in three-terminal diffusive interferometers with short arms. We consider strong proximity effect and investigate an interplay of dissipative and Josephson currents co-existing within the same proximity region. In junctions with transparent interfaces, the suppression of the Josephson current appears at rather large voltage, $eV\sim Δ$, and the current vanishes at $eV\geqΔ$. Josephson current inversion becomes possible in junctions with resistive interfaces, where the inversion occurs within a finite interval of the applied voltage. Due to the presence of considerably large and phase-dependent injection current, the critical current measured in a current biased junction does not coincide with the maximum Josephson current, and remains finite when the true Josephson current is suppressed. The voltage dependence of the conductance shows two pronounced peaks, at the bulk gap energy, and at the proximity gap energy; the phase oscillation of the conductance exhibits qualitatively different form at small voltage $eV<Δ$, and at large voltage $eV>Δ$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Combined effect of Zeeman splitting and spin-orbit interaction on the Josephson current in a S-2DEG-S structure

We analyze new spin effects in current-carrying state of superconductor-2D electron gas-superconductor (S-2DEG-S) device with spin-polarized nuclei in 2DEG region. The hyperfine interaction of 2D electrons with nuclear spins, described by the effective magnetic field B, produces Zeeman splitting of Andreev levels without orbital effects, that leads to the interference pattern of supercurrent oscillations over B. The spin-orbit effects in 2DEG cause strongly anisotropic dependence of the Josephson current on the direction of B, which may be used as a probe for the spin-orbit interaction intensity. Under certain conditions, the system reveals the properties of pi-junction.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Current noise in long diffusive SNS junctions in the incoherent MAR regime

Spectral density of current fluctuations at zero frequency is calculated for a long diffusive SNS junction with low-resistive interfaces. At low temperature, T << Delta, the subgap shot noise approaches linear voltage dependence, S=(2/ 3R)(eV + 2Delta), which is the sum of the shot noise of the normal conductor and voltage independent excess noise. This result can also be interpreted as the 1/3-suppressed Poisson noise for the effective charge q = e(1+2Delta/eV) transferred by incoherent multiple Andreev reflections (MAR). At higher temperatures, anomalies of the current noise develop at the gap subharmonics, eV = 2Delta/n. The crossover to the hot electron regime from the MAR regime is analyzed in the limit of small applied voltages.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Circuit theory of multiple Andreev reflections in diffusive SNS junctions: the incoherent case

The incoherent regime of Multiple Andreev Reflections (MAR) is studied in long diffusive SNS junctions at applied voltages larger than the Thouless energy. Incoherent MAR is treated as a transport problem in energy space by means of a circuit theory for an equivalent electrical network. The current through NS interfaces is explained in terms of diffusion flows of electrons and holes through tunnel and Andreev resistors. These resistors in diffusive junctions play roles analogous to the normal and Andreev reflection coefficients in OTBK theory for ballistic junctions. The theory is applied to the subharmonic gap structure (SGS); simple analytical results are obtained for the distribution function and current spectral density for the limiting cases of resistive and transparent NS interfaces. In the general case, the exact solution is found in terms of chain-fractions, and the current is calculated numerically. SGS shows qualitatively different behavior for even and odd subharmonic numbers, and the maximum slopes of the differential resistance correspond to the gap subharmonics. The influence of inelastic scattering on the subgap anomalies of the differential resistance is analyzed.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Electron renormalization of sound interaction with two-level systems in superconducting metglasses

The crossing of temperature dependencies of sound velocity in the normal and the superconducting state of metallic glasses indicates renormalization of the intensity of sound interaction with two-level systems (TLS) caused by their coupling with electrons. In this paper we have analyzed different approaches to a quantitative description of renormalization using the results of low-temperature ultrasonic investigation of ZrTiCuNiBe amorphous alloy. It is shown that the adiabatic renormalization of the coherent tunneling amplitude can explain only part of the whole effect observed in the experiment. There exists another mechanism of renormalization affecting only nearly symmetric TLS.

cond-mat↗

Sound attenuation in the superconducting amorphous alloy ZrTiCuNiBe

The superconducting energy gap and the parameter of the intensity of electron scattering at two-level systems in amorphous ZrTiCuNiBe are determined from the results of measurements of sound attenuation. The mechanism of adiabatic renormalization of the amplitude of coherent tunneling is used for a quantitative description of the peculiarities of sound absorption in the vicinity of critical temperature.

cond-mat↗

Multiple Andreev reflection in single atom niobium junctions

Single atom junctions between superconducting niobium leads are produced using the Mechanically Controllable Break Junction technique. The current-voltage characteristics of these junctions are analysed using an exact formulation for a superconducting quantum point contact. For tunnelling between two single atoms with a sufficiently large vacuum barrier, it is found that a single channel dominates the current, and that the current-voltage characteristic is described by the theory, without adjustable parameters. For a contact of a single Nb atom it is shown that five conductance channels contribute to the conductance, in agreement with the number expected based on the number of valence orbitals for this d-metal. For each of the channels the transmission probability is obtained from the fits and the limits of accuracy for these numbers are discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Multiple Andreev reflections and enhanced shot noise in diffusive SNS junctions

We study the dc conductance and current fluctuations in diffusive voltage biased SNS junctions with a tunnel barrier inside the mesoscopic normal region. We find that at subgap voltages, eV<2Delta/n, the current associated with the chain of n Andreev reflections is mapped onto the quasiparticle flow through a structure of n+1 voltage biased barriers connected by diffusive conductors. As a result, the current-voltage characteristic of a long SNINS structure obeys Ohm's law, in spite of the complex multiparticle transport process. At the same time, nonequilibrium heating of subgap electrons produces giant shot noise with pronounced subharmonic gap structure which corresponds to stepwise growth of the effective transferred charge. At eV\to 0, the shot noise approaches the magnitude of the Johnson-Nyquist noise with the effective temperature T^*=Delta/3, and the effective charge increases as (e/3)(1 + 2Delta/eV), with the universal ``one third suppression'' factor. We analyse the role of inelastic scattering and present a criterion of strong nonequilibrium.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

On the theory of Josephson effect in a diffusive tunnel junction

Specific features of the equilibrium current-carrying state of a Josephson tunnel junction between diffusive superconductors are studied theoretically in the 1D geometry. It is found that the Josephson current induces localized states of electron excitations in the vicinity of the tunnel barrier, which are a continuous analog of Andreev levels in a ballistic junction. The depth of the corresponding ``potential well'' is much greater than the separation between an Andreev level and the continuous energy spectrum boundary for the same transmissivity of the barrier. In contrast to a ballistic junction in which the Josephson current is transported completely by localized excitations, the contribution to current in a diffusive junction comes from whole spectral region near the energy gap boundary, where the density of states differs considerably from its unperturbed value. The correction to the Josephson current in the second order of the barrier transmissivity, which contains the second harmonic of the phase jump, is calculated and it is found that the true expansion parameter of the perturbation theory for a diffusive junction is not the tunneling probability $Γ$ itself, but a much larger parameter $W = (3ξ_0/4l)Γ$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Electron renormalization of sound interaction with two-level systems in superconducting metglasses

The crossing of temperature dependences of the sound velocity in normal and superconducting state of metallic glasses points out unambiguously the renormalization of the intensity of sound interaction with two-level systems (TLS), caused by their coupling with electrons. We propose a simple scenario which allows us to describe qualitatively the influence of the superconducting transition on the sound velocity and attenuation in superconducting metglasses and to make quantative estimations of renormalization parameters.

cond-mat↗