arXiv subjects

L. B. Ioffe

Publications and source records attributed to L. B. Ioffe.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv1999

Quantum fluctuations and the c-axis optical conductivity of High-T_c Superconductors

A theory of the frequency dependence of the interplane conductivity of a strongly anisotropic superconductor is presented. The form of the conductivity is shown to be a sensitive probe of the strength of quantum and thermal fluctuations of the phase of the superconducting order parameter. The temperature dependence of the superfluid stiffness and of the form of the absorbtion at frequencies of the order of twice the superconducting gap is shown to depend on the interplay between superconducting pairing, phase coherence and the mechanism by which electrons are scattered. Measurements of the c-axis conductivity of high-T_c superconductors are interpreted in terms of the theory.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1999

Andreev Spectroscopy for Superconductive Phase Qubit

New method to probe quantum dynamics of the order parameter phase of a small superconductive island is proposed. The idea is to measure Andreev subgap conductance between the island and a dirty normal-metal wire connected with the island by very high-resistance tunnel barrier. The phase on the island is supposed to stay primarly in one of the two nearly degenerate classical minima i.e. the island is an active element of the Superconductive Phase Qubit. Voltage-dependence of the differential subgap conductance measured at low temperatures are predicted to demonstrate crucially different behavior depending on the type of the internal dynamics of phase (coherent tunnelling of phase, non-coherent tunnelling, or no tunneling). Thus the measurements of nonliner Andreev conductance is a tool to probe the type of quantum behavior of the artificial two-level system.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1999

Barriers in the p-spin interacting spin-glass model. The dynamical approach

We investigate the barriers separating metastable states in the spherical p-spin glass model using the instanton method. We show that the problem of finding the barrier heights can be reduced to the causal two-real-replica dynamics. We find the probability for the system to escape one of the highest energy metastable states and the energy barrier corresponding to this process.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv1999

Instantons in the Langevin dynamics: an application to spin glasses

We develop a general technique to calculate the probability of transitions over the barriers in spin-glasses in the framework of the dynamical theory. We use Lagrangian formulation of the instanton dynamics in which the transitions are represented by instantons. We derive the full set of the equations that determine the instantons but instead of solving them directly we prove that an instanton process can be mapped into a usual process going back in time which simplifies the problem significantly. We apply this general considerations to a simple example of the spherical Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model and we find the probability of the transition between the metastable states which is in agreement with physical expectations.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv1999

Quantum Glass Transition in a Periodic Long-Range Josephson Array

We show that the ground state of the periodic long range Josephson array frustrated by magnetic field is a glass for a sufficiently large Josephson energies despite the absence of a quenched disorder. Like superconductors, this glass state has non-zero phase stiffness and Meissner response; for smaller Josephson energies the glass "melts" and the ground state loses the phase stiffness and becomes insulating. We find the critical scaling behavior near this quantum phase transition: the excitation gap vanishes as (J-J_c)^2, the frequency-dependent magnetic susceptibility behaves as χ(ω) ~ \sqrtω\lnω.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv1999

Quiet SDS Josephson Junctions for Quantum Computing

Unconventional superconductors exhibit an order parameter symmetry lower than the symmetry of the underlying crystal lattice. Recent phase sensitive experiments on YBCO single crystals have established the d-wave nature of the cuprate materials, thus identifying unambiguously the first unconventional superconductor. The sign change in the order parameter can be exploited to construct a new type of s-wave - d-wave - s-wave Josephson junction exhibiting a degenerate ground state and a double-periodic current-phase characteristic. Here we discuss how to make use of these special junction characteristics in the construction of a quantum computer. Combining such junctions together with a usual s-wave link into a SQUID loop we obtain what we call a `quiet' qubit --- a solid state implementation of a quantum bit which remains optimally isolated from its environment.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv1998

Enumeration of States in a Periodic Glass

We present an analytic enumeration of the metastable states, $N_s$, in a periodic long-range Josephson array frustrated by a transverse field. We find that the configurational entropy, $S_{conf} \equiv \ln N_s$, is extensive and scales with frustration, confirming that the non-random system is glassy. We also find that $S_{conf}$ is different from that of its disordered analogue, despite that fact that the two models share the same dynamical equations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1998

Resistance of Josephson Junction Arrays at Low Temperatures

We study motion of vortices in arrays of Josephson junctions at zero temperature where it is controlled by quantum tunneling from one plaquette to another. The tunneling process is characterized by a finite time and can be slow compared to the superconducting gap (so that $τΔ>> 1$). The dissipation which accompanies this process arises from rare processes when a vortex excites a quasiparticle above the gap while tunneling through a single junction. We find that the dissipation is significant even in the case $τΔ>> 1$, in particular it is not exponentially small in this parameter. We use the calculated energy dissipation for the single vortex jump to estimate the physical resistance of the whole array.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv1998

``Cold spots'': a new model for transport in high $T_c$ cuprates

We present a Boltzmann equation analysis of the transport properties of a model of electrons with a lifetime which is short everywhere except near the Brillouin zone diagonals. The anomalous lifetime is directly implied by photoemission and c-axis transport data. We find quantitative agreement between calculations and ac and dc longitudinal and Hall resistivity, but the predicted longitudinal magnetoresistance disagrees with experiment. A possible microscopic origin of the anomalous lifetime is discussed

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1998

Theory of the Resistive Transition in Overdoped $Tl_2Ba_2CuO_{6+x}$: Implications for the angular dependence of the quasiparticle scattering rate in High-$T_c$ superconductors

We show that recent measurements of the magnetic field dependence of the magnetization, specific heat and resistivity of overdoped $T_c \sim 17K$ $Tl_{2}Ba_{2}CuO_{6+δ}$ in the vicinity of the superconducting $H_{c2}$ imply that the vortex viscosity is anomalously small and that the material studied is inhomogeneous with small, a few hundred $Å$, regions in which the local $T_{c}$ is much higher than the bulk $T_{c}$. The anomalously small vortex viscosity can be derived from a microscopic model in which the quasiparticle lifetime varies dramatically around the Fermi surface, being small everywhere except along the zone diagonal (``cold spot''). We propose experimental tests of our results.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1997

On the distribution of barriers in the spin glasses

We discuss a general formalism that allows study of transitions over barriers in spin glasses with long-range interactions that contain large but finite number, $N$, of spins. We apply this formalism to the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model with finite $N$ and derive equations for the dynamical order parameters which allow ''instanton'' solutions describing transitions over the barriers separating metastable states. Specifically, we study these equations for a glass state that was obtained in a slow cooling process ending a little below $T_{c}$ and show that these equations allow ''instanton'' solutions which erase the response of the glass to the perturbations applied during the slow cooling process. The corresponding action of these solutions gives the energy of the barriers, we find that it scales as $τ^{6}$ where $τ$ is the reduced temperature.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv1997

Anomalous Charge Dynamics in the Superconducting State of Underdoped Cuprates

We present fermi liquid expressions for the low temperature behavior of the superfluid stiffness, explain why they differ from those suggested recently by Lee and Wen, and discuss their applicability to data on high-$T_c$ superconductors. We find that a consistent description requires a strong, doping dependent anisotropy, which affects states near the zone corners much more strongly than those near the zone diagonals.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv1997

History-Dependence and Ageing in a Periodic Long-Range Josephson Array

History-dependence and ageing are studied in the low-temperature glass phase of a long-range periodic Josephson array. This model is characterized by two parameters, the number of wires ($2N$) and the flux per unit strip ($α$); in the limit $N \to \infty$ and fixed $α\ll 1$ the dynamics of the model are described by the set of coupled integral equations, which coincide with those for the $p=4$ disordered spherical model. Below the glass transition we have solved these equations numerically in a number of different regimes. We observe power-law ageing after a fast quench with an exponent that decreases rapidly with temperature. After slow cooling to a not-too-low temperature, we see ageing characterized by the appearance of a new time scale which has a power law dependence on the cooling rate. By contrast if the array is cooled slowly to very low temperatures the ageing disappears. The physical consequences of these results in different cooling regimes are discussed for future experiment. We also study the structure of the phase space in the low temperature glassy regime. Analytically we expect an exponential number of metastable states just below the glass transition temperature with vanishing mutual overlap, and numerical results indicate that this scenario remains valid down to zero temperature. Thus in this array there is no further subdivision of metastable states. We also investigate the probability to evolve to different states given a starting overlap, and our results suggest a broad distribution of barriers.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv1996

An Experimentally Realizable Weiss Model for Disorder-Free Glassiness

We summarize recent work on a frustrated periodic long-range Josephson array in a parameter regime where its dynamical behavior is identical to that of the $p=4$ disordered spherical model. We also discuss the physical requirements imposed by the theory on the experimental realization of this superconducting network.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv1996

On the superconductivity in the system with preformed pairs

We discuss the phenomenology of the superconductivity resulting from the bose condensation of the preformed pairs coexisting with unpaired fermions. We show that this transition is more mean field like than usual bose condensation, i.e. it is characterized by a relatively small value of the Ginzburg parameter. We consider the Hall effect in the vortex flow regime and in the fluctuational regime above $T_c$ and show that in this situation it is much less than in the transition driven entirely by bose condesation but much larger than in a usual superconductivity. We analyse the available Hall data and conclude that this phenomenology describes reasonably well the data in the underdoped materials of $YBaCuO$ family but is not an appropriate description of optimally doped materials or underdoped $LaSrCuO$.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1996

Hall Voltage Fluctuations as a Diagnostic of Internal Magnetic Field Fluctuations in High Temperature Superconductors and the Half-filled Landau Level

Fluctuations of the Hall voltage reveal information about long wavelength magnetic field fluctuations. If gauge theories of strongly correlated electrons are correct, such fluctuations are particularly large in the half-filled Landau level and in high $T_c$ superconductors. We present estimates for the magnitude, system size and frequency dependence of these fluctuations. The frequency dependence contains information about instantons in the gauge field.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

Effect of van Hove Singularities on a Spin Liquid

We determine the properties and leading instabilities of a spin liquid with a Fermi surface passing near a van Hove singularity. Our study is motivated by recent photoemission experiments on high $T_c$ cuprates in which it is found that for the optimally doped material the experimental Fermi surface passes near a van Hove singularity, while for underdoped materials, a pseudogap in the electron spectral function is formed in the vicinity of the van Hove point. We show theoretically that proximity to the van Hove singularity suppresses the inelastic scattering due to the gauge field and permits the formation of a d-wave RVB state in which the gap exists only near the van Hove points while finite regions of the Fermi surface remain gapless. This $d$-wave pairing provides a natural explanation of the pseudogap observed in photoemission. We also discuss the relation of the pseudogap observed in the spectral function to the pseudogaps observed in the magnetic susceptibility.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1995

Glass Formation in a Periodic Long-Range Josephson Array

We present an analytic study of a dynamical instability in a periodic long-range Josephson array frustrated by a weak transverse field. This glass transition is characterized by a diverging relaxation time and a jump in the Edwards-Anderson order parameter; it is {\sl not} accompanied by a coinciding static transition.

cond-mat↗