arXiv subjects

V. M. Vinokur

Publications and source records attributed to V. M. Vinokur.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2003

Single-electron transport through the vortex core levels in clean superconductors

We develop a microscopic theory of single-electron transport in N-S-N hybrid structures in the presence of applied magnetic field introducing vortex lines in a superconductor layer. We show that vortex cores in a thick and clean superconducting layer are similar to mesoscopic conducting channels where the bound core states play the role of transverse modes. The transport through not very thick layers is governed by another mechanism, namely by resonance tunneling via vortex core levels. We apply our method to calculation of the thermal conductance along the magnetic field.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2003

Spectral flow in superconducting point contacts

We find that multiple Andreev reflections mediating the transport in superconducting point contacts are strongly affected by a small amount of impurities in the area of the contact. We also argue that the model based on Zener transitions within independent conducting channels is not suitable for kinetic processes in multichannel contacts.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Josephson transport through a Hubbard impurity center

We investigate the Josephson transport through a thin semiconductor barrier containing impurity centers with the on-site Hubbard interaction $u$ of an arbitrary sign and strength. We find that in the case of the repulsive interaction the Josephson current changes sign with the temperature increase if the energy of the impurity level $ε$ (measured from the Fermi energy of superconductors) falls in the interval $(-u,0)$. We predict strong temporal fluctuations of the current if only a few centers present within the junction. In the case of the attractive impurity potential ($u<0$) and at low temperatures, the model is reduced to the effective two level Hamiltonian allowing thus a simple description of the nonstationary Josephson effect in terms of pair tunneling processes.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Quantum tunneling between paramagnetic and superconducting states of a nanometer-scale superconducting grain placed in a magnetic field

We consider the process of quantum tunneling between the superconducting and paramagnetic states of a nanometer-scale superconducting grain placed in a magnetic field. The grain is supposed to be coupled via tunneling junction to a normal metallic contact that plays a role of the spin reservoir. Using the instanton method we find the probability of the quantum tunneling process and express it in terms of the applied magnetic field, order parameter of the superconducting grain and conductance of the tunneling junction between the grain and metallic contact.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Intrinsic Josephson effect and nonequilibrium soliton structures in two-gap superconductors

We predict a new dynamic state in current-carrying superconductors with multicomponent order parameter. If the current density J exceeds a critical value J_t, an interband breakdown caused by charge imbalance of nonequilibrium quasiparticles occurs. For J > J_t, the electric field penetrating from current leads gives rise to various static and dynamic soliton phase textures, and voltage oscillations similar to the nonstationary Josephson effect. We propose experiments to observe these effects which would probe the multicomponent nature of the superconducting order parameter.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Destruction of bulk ordering by surface randomness

We demonstrate that the arbitrarily weak quenched disorder on the surface of a system of continuous symmetry destroys long range order in the bulk, and, instead, quasi-long range order emerges. Correlation functions are calculated exactly for the two- and three-dimensional XY model with surface randomness via the functional renormalization group. Even at strong quenched disorder the three-dimensional XY model possesses topological order. We also determine roughness of a domain wall in the presence of surface disorder.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2002

Mode locking of vortex matter driven through mesoscopic channels

We investigated the driven dynamics of vortices confined to mesoscopic flow channels by means of a dc-rf interference technique. The observed mode-locking steps in the $IV$-curves provide detailed information on how the number of rows and lattice structure in the channel change with magnetic field. Minima in flow stress occur when an integer number of rows is moving coherently, while maxima appear when incoherent motion of mixed $n$ and $n\pm 1$ row configurations is predominant. Simulations show that the enhanced pinning at mismatch originates from quasi-static fault zones with misoriented edge dislocations induced by disorder in the channel edges.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Correlation Functions for an Elastic String in a Random Potential: Instanton Approach

We develop an instanton technique for calculations of correlation functions characterizing statistical behavior of the elastic string in disordered media and apply the proposed approach to correlations of string free energies corresponding to different low-lying metastable positions. We find high-energy tails of correlation functions for the case of long-range disorder (the disorder correlation length well exceeds the characteristic distance between the sequential string positions) and short-range disorder with the correlation length much smaller then the characteristic string displacements. The former case refers to energy distributions and correlations on the distances below the Larkin correlation length, while the latter describes correlations on the large spatial scales relevant for the creep dynamics.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2001

Thermodynamics of the superfluid dilute Bose gas with disorder

We generalize the Beliaev-Popov diagrammatic technique for the problem of interacting dilute Bose gas with weak disorder. Averaging over disorder is implemented by the replica method. Low energy asymptotic form of the Green function confirms that the low energy excitations of the superfluid dirty Boson system are sound waves with velocity renormalized by the disorder and additional dissipation due to the impurity scattering. We find the thermodynamic potential and the superfluid density at any temperature below the superfluid transition temperature and derive the phase diagram in temperature vs. disorder plane.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2001

Phase Separation and Coarsening in Electrostatically Driven Granular Media

A continuum model for the phase separation and coarsening, observed in electrostatically driven granular media, is formulated in terms of a Ginzburg-Landau equation subject to conservation of the total number of grains. In the regime of well-developed clusters, the continuum model is used to derive "sharp-interface" equations that govern the dynamics of the interphase boundary. The model captures the essential physics of this system.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2001

Suppression of surface barrier in superconductors by columnar defects

We investigate the influence of columnar defects in layered superconductors on the thermally activated penetration of pancake vortices through the surface barrier. Columnar defects, located near the surface, facilitate penetration of vortices through the surface barrier, by creating ``weak spots'', through which pancakes can penetrate into the superconductor. Penetration of a pancake mediated by an isolated column, located near the surface, is a two-stage process involving hopping from the surface to the column and the detachment from the column into the bulk; each stage is controlled by its own activation barrier. The resulting effective energy is equal to the maximum of those two barriers. For a given external field there exists an optimum location of the column for which the barriers for the both processes are equal and the reduction of the effective penetration barrier is maximal. At high fields the effective penetration field is approximately two times smaller than in unirradiated samples. We also estimate the suppression of the effective penetration field by column clusters. This mechanism provides further reduction of the penetration field at low temperatures.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Hysteretic dynamics of domain walls at finite temperatures

Theory of domain wall motion in a random medium is extended to the case when the driving field is below the zero-temperature depinning threshold and the creep of the domain wall is induced by thermal fluctuations. Subject to an ac drive, the domain wall starts to move when the driving force exceeds an effective threshold which is temperature and frequency-dependent. Similarly to the case of zero-temperature, the hysteresis loop displays three dynamical phase transitions at increasing ac field amplitude $h_0$. The phase diagram in the 3-d space of temperature, driving force amplitude and frequency is investigated.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2001

Stick-slip friction and nucleation dynamics of ultra-thin liquid films

We develop the theory for stick-slip motion in ultra-thin liquid films confined between two moving atomically-flat surfaces. Our model is based on hydrodynamic equation for the flow coupled to the dynamic order parameter field describing the ``shear melting and freezing'' of the confined fluid. This model successfully accounts for observed phenomenology of friction in ultra-thin films, including periodic and chaotic sequences of slips, transitions from stick-slip motion to steady sliding.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2000

Hysteretic depinning and dynamical melting for magnetically interacting vortices in disordered layered superconductors

We examine the depinning transitions and the temperature versus driving force phase diagram for magnetically interacting pancake vortices in layered superconductors. For strong disorder the initial depinning is plastic followed by a sharp hysteretic transition to a 3D ordered state for increasing driving force. Our results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions for driven anisotropic charge density wave systems. We also show that a temperature induced peak effect in the critical current occurs due to the onset of plasticity between the layers.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2000

Theory of plastic vortex creep

We develop a theory for plastic flux creep in a topologically disordered vortex solid phase in type-II superconductors. We propose a detailed description of the plastic vortex creep of the dislocated, amorphous vortex glass in terms of motion of dislocations driven by a transport current $j$. The {\em plastic barriers} $U_{pl}(j)\propto j^{-μ}$ show power-law divergence at small drives with exponents $μ=1$ for single dislocation creep and $μ= 2/5$ for creep of dislocation bundles. The suppression of the creep rate is a hallmark of the transition from the topologically ordered vortex lattice to an amorphous vortex glass, reflecting a jump in $μ$ from $μ= 2/11$, characterizing creep in the topologically ordered vortex lattice near the transition, to its plastic values. The lower creep rates explain the observed increase in apparent critical currents in the dislocated vortex glass.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2000

Instanton approach to the Langevin motion of a particle in a random potential

We develop an instanton approach to the non-equilibrium dynamics in one-dimensional random environments. The long time behavior is controlled by rare fluctuations of the disorder potential and, accordingly, by the tail of the distribution function for the time a particle needs to propagate along the system (the delay time). The proposed method allows us to find the tail of the delay time distribution function and delay time moments, providing thus an exact description of the long-time dynamics. We analyze arbitrary environments covering different types of glassy dynamics: dynamics in a short-range random field, creep, and Sinai's motion.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2000

Hydrodynamics of the quantum Hall smectics

We propose a dynamical theory of the stripe phase arising in a two-dimensional electron liquid near half-integral fillings of high Landau levels. The system is modelled as a novel type of a smectic liquid crystal with the Lorentz force dominated dynamics. We calculate the structure factor, the dispersion relation of the collective modes (magnetophonons), and their intrinsic attenuation rate. We find strong power-law renormalizations of the elastic and dissipative coefficients by thermal fluctuations familiar from the conventional smectics but with different dynamical scaling exponents.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2000

Magnetic quantization of electronic states in d-wave superconductors

We derive a general quasiclassical approach for long-range magnetic-field quantization effects in superconductors. The method is applied to superclean d-wave superconductors in the mixed state. We study the delocalized states with energies $ε\gg Δ_{0}\sqrt{H/H_{c2}}$. We find that the energy spectrum consists of narrow energy bands whose centers are located at the Landau levels calculated in absence of the vortex potential. We show that transitions between the states belonging to the different Landau levels give rise to resonances in the a.c. quasiparticle conductivity and in the a.c. vortex friction.

cond-mat.supr-con↗