arXiv subjects

F. Sols

Publications and source records attributed to F. Sols.

50 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2004

Electronic lifetimes in ballistic quantum dots electrostatically coupled to metallic environments

We calculate the lifetime of low-energy electronic excitations in a two-dimensional quantum dot near a metallic gate. We find different behaviors depending on the relative values of the dot size, the dot-gate distance and the Thomas-Fermi screening length within the dot. The standard Fermi liquid behavior is obtained when the dot-gate distance is much shorter than the dot size or when it is so large that intrinsic effects dominate. Departures from the Fermi liquid behavior are found in the unscreened dipole case of small dots far away from the gate, for which a Caldeira-Leggett model is applicable. At intermediate distances, a marginal Fermi liquid is obtained if there is sufficient screening within the dot. In these last two non-trivial cases, the level width decays as a power law with the dot-gate distance.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2003

Quantum electrodynamic fluctuations of the macroscopic Josephson phase

We study the equilibrium dynamics of the relative phase in a superconducting Josephson link taking into account the quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic vacuum. The photons act as a superohmic heat bath on the relative Cooper pair number and thus, indirectly, on the macroscopic phase difference ϕ. This leads to an enhancement of the mean square <ϕ^2> that adds to the spread due to the Coulomb interaction carried by the longitudinal electromagnetic field. We also include the interaction with the electronic degrees of freedom due to quasiparticle tunneling, which couple to the phase and only indirectly to the particle number. The simultaneous inclusion of both the radiation field fluctuations and quasiparticle tunneling leads to a novel type of particle--bath Hamiltonian in which the quantum particle couples through its position and momentum to two independent bosonic heat baths. We study the interplay between the two mechanisms in the present context and find interference contributions to the quantum fluctuations of the phase. We explore the observability of the QED effects discussed here.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Phase dynamics after connection of two separate Bose-Einstein condensates

We study the dynamics of the relative phase following the connection of two independently formed Bose-Einstein condensates. Dissipation is assumed to be due to the creation of quasiparticles induced by a fluctuating condensate particle number. The coherence between different values of the phase, which is characteristic of the initial Fock state, is quickly lost after the net exchange of a few atoms has taken place. This process effectively measures the phase and marks the onset of a semiclassical regime in which the system undergoes Bloch oscillations around the initial particle number. These fast oscillations excite quasiparticles within each condensate and the system relaxes at a longer time scale until it displays low-energy, damped Josephson plasma oscillations, eventually coming to a halt when the equilibrium configuration is finally reached.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2001

Split vortices in optically coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

We study a rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensate in which an optically induced Josephson coupling allows for population transfer between the two species. In a regime where separation of species is favored, the ground state of the rotating system displays domain walls with velocity fields normal to them. Such a configuration looks like a vortex split into two halves, with atoms circulating around the vortex and changing their internal state in a continuous way.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2001

The Josephson plasmon as a Bogoliubov quasiparticle

We study the Josephson effect in alkali atomic gases within the two-mode approximation and show that there is a correspondence between the Bogoliubov description and the harmonic limit of the phase representation. We demonstrate that the quanta of the Josephson plasmon can be identified with the Bogoliubov excitations of the two-site Bose fluid. We thus establish a mapping between the Bogoliubov approximation for the many-body theory and the linearized pendulum Hamiltonian.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2000

Non-Linear and Non-Local Meissner Effect in Superconducting Wires

The structure of the Meissner effect in a current-carrying cylindrical wire with arbitrary disorder is studied using a numerical procedure that is exact within the semiclassical approximation. A distribution of currents is found that is non-monotonous as a function of the radial coordinate. For high currents, a robust gapless superconducting state develops at the surface of both clean and dirty leads. Our calculation provides a quantitative theory of the critical current in realistic wires.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1999

Self-consistent theory of transport in superconducting wires

We study superconducting transport in homogeneous wires in the cases of both equilibrium and nonequilibrium quasiparticle populations, using the quasiclassical Green's function technique. We consider superconductors with arbitrary current densities and impurity concentrations ranging from the clean to the dirty limit. Local current conservation is guaranteed by ensuring that the order parameter satisfies the self-consistency equation at each point. For equilibrium transport, we compute the current, the order parameter amplitude, and the quasiparticle density of states as a function of the superfluid velocity, temperature, and disorder strength. Nonequilibrium is characterized by incoming quasiparticles with different chemical potentials at each end of the superconductor. We calculate the profiles of the electrostratic potential, order parameter, and effective quasiparticle gap. We find that a transport regime of current-induced gapless superconductivity can be achieved in clean superconductors, the stability of this state being enhanced by nonequilibrium.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1999

Conductances in normal and normal-superconductor structures

We study theoretically electronic transport through a normal metal-- superconductor (NS) interface and show that more than one conductance may be defined, depending on the pair of chemical potentials whose difference one chooses to relate linearly to the current. We argue that the situation is analogous to that found for purely normal transport, where different conductance formulae can be invoked. We revisit the problem of the "right" conductance formula in a simple language, and analyze its extension to the case of mesoscopic superconductivity. The well-known result that the standard conductance of a NS interface becomes 2 (in units of $2e^2/h$) in the transmissive limit, is viewed here in a different light. We show that it is not directly related to the presence of Andreev reflection, but rather to a particular choice of chemical potentials. This value of 2 is measurable because only one single-contact resistance is involved in a typical experimental setup, in contrast with the purely normal case, where two of them intervene. We introduce an alternative NS conductance that diverges in the transmissive limit due to the inability of Andreev reflection to generate a voltage drop. We illustrate numerically how different choices of chemical potential can yield widely differing I--V curves for a given NS interface.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1998

Comment on ``Phase and Phase Diffusion of a Split Bose-Einstein Condensate''

Recently Javanainen and Wilkens [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4675 (1997)] have analysed an experiment in which an interacting Bose condensate, after being allowed to form in a single potential well, is "cut" by splitting the well adiabatically with a very high potential barrier, and estimate the rate at which, following the cut, the two halves of the condensate lose the "memory" of their relative phase. We argue that, by neglecting the effect of interactions in the initial state before the separation, they have overestimated the rate of phase randomization by a numerical factor which grows with the interaction strength and with the slowness of the separation process.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1997

Transport in normal-superconductor-normal structures with local conservation of current

We study the transport properties of a NSN structure with an insulating barrier at each NS interface. Coherent quasiparticle scattering is assumed and self-consistency is implemented exactly to guarantee local charge conservation. The presence of a finite condensate flow has a greater influence on the transport properties than either the gap depression near the interfaces or the coherent nature of scattering. We find that a nonzero phase gradient causes a shift towards lower voltages of the first peak in the differential conductance and a global enhancement of current. At low currents, we obtain gap profiles near the interfaces that are consistent with the criteria for boundary conditions employed in macroscopic descriptions. The existence of coherent multiple scattering gives rise to a rich structure of resonances that is smoothed out for long superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1996

Self-consistent scattering description of transport in normal-superconductor structures

We present a scattering description of transport in several normal-superconductor structures. We show that the related requirements of self-consistency and current conservation introduce qualitative changes in the transport behavior when the current in the superconductor is not negligible. The energy thresholds for quasiparticle propagation in the superconductor are sensitive to the existence of condensate flow ($v_s\neq 0$). This dependence is responsible for a rich variety of transport regimes, including a voltage range in which only Andreev transmission is possible at the interfaces, and a state of gapless superconductivity which may survive up to high voltages if temperature is low. The two main effects of current conservation are a shift towards lower voltages of the first peak in the differential conductance and an enhancement of current caused by the greater availability of charge transmitting scattering channels.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1996

Absence of charge backscattering in the nonequilibrium current of normal-superconductor structures

We study the nonequilibrium transport properties of a normal-superconductor-normal structure, focussing on the effect of adding an impurity in the superconducting region. Current conservation requires the superfluid velocity to be nonzero, causing a distortion of the quasiparticle dispersion relation within the superconductor. For weakly reflecting interfaces we find a regime of intermediate voltages in which Andreev transmission is the only permitted mechanism for quasiparticles to enter the superconductor. Impurities in the superconductor can only cause Andreev reflection of these quasiparticles and thus cannot degrade the current. At higher voltages, a state of gapless superconductivity develops which is sensitive to the presence of impurities.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

Supercurrent flow through an effective double barrier structure

Supercurrent flow is studied in a structure that in the Ginzburg-Landau regime can be described in terms of an effective double barrier potential. In the limit of strongly reflecting barriers, the passage of Cooper pairs through such a structure may be viewed as a realization of resonant tunneling with a rigid wave function. For interbarrier distances smaller than $d_0=πξ(T)$ no current-carrying solutions exist. For distances between $d_0$ and $2d_0$, four solutions exist. The two symmetric solutions obey a current-phase relation of $\sin(Δφ/2)$, while the two asymmetric solutions satisfy $Δφ=π$ for all allowed values of the current. As the distance exceeds $nd_0$, a new group of four solutions appears, each contaning $(n-1)$ soliton-type oscillations between the barriers. We prove the inexistence of a continuous crossover between the physical solutions of the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equation and those of the corresponding linearized Schrödinger equation. We also show that under certain conditions a repulsive delta function barrier may quantitatively describe a SNS structure. We are thus able to predict that the critical current of a SNSNS structure vanishes as $\sqrt{T'_c-T}$, where $T'_c$ is lower than the bulk critical temperature.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

SELFCONSISTENT CURRENT-VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF NORMAL-SUPERCONDUCTOR INTERFACES

We study the nonlinear transport properties of NS (normal-superconductor) and NSN structures by means of a self-consistent microscopic description. A nonzero superfluid velocity causes the various quasiparticle channels within S to open at different voltages. The gap reduction is very sensitive to the details of quasiparticle scattering. At low temperatures, superconductivity, some times in a peculiar gapless form, may survive up to voltages much higher that $k_B T_c/e$. The minimum voltage for quasiparticle transmission is shown to decrease strongly with temperature and with the transmittivity of the barrier.

cond-mat↗