It is shown that such phenomena as quantum correlations (interaction of space-separated quantum entities), the action of magnetic vector potential on quantum entities in the absence of magnetic field, and near-field a...It is shown that such phenomena as quantum correlations (interaction of space-separated quantum entities), the action of magnetic vector potential on quantum entities in the absence of magnetic field, and near-field antenna effect (the existence of superluminally propagating electromagnetic fields) may be explained by action of spin supercurrents. In case of quantum correlations between quantum entities, spin supercurrent emerges between virtual particles pairs (virtual photons) created by those quantum entities. The explanation of magnetic vector potential and near-field antenna effect is based on contemporary principle of quantum mechanics: the physical vacuum is not an empty space but the ground state of the field consisting of quantum harmonic oscillators (QHOs) characterized by zero-point energy. Using the properties of the oscillators and spin supercurrent, it is proved that magnetic vector potential is proportional to the moment causing the orientation of spin of QHO along the direction of magnetic field. The near-field antenna effect is supposed to take place as a result of action of spin supercurrent causing secondary electromagnetic oscillations. In this way, the electromagnetic field may spread at the speed of spin supercurrent. As spin supercurrent is an inertia free process, its speed may be greater than that of light, which does not contradict postulates of special relativity that sets limits to the speed of inertial systems only.展开更多
This paper applies the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation and the Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk approach to study the oscillatory behaviour of differential conductance in a normal metal/insulator/metal/d-wave superconductor jun...This paper applies the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation and the Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk approach to study the oscillatory behaviour of differential conductance in a normal metal/insulator/metal/d-wave superconductor junction carrying a supercurrent Is. We find that （i） a three-humped structure appears at a nearly critical supercurrent Is and z ≈ 0.5 for the normal metal/insulator/metal/dx^2＋y^2-wave superconductor junction; （ii） the zero-bias conductance peak splits into two peaks with sufficiently large applied current for the normal metal/insulator/metal/dxy-wave superconductor junction; （iii） the conductance spectrum exhibits oscillating behaviour with the bias voltage and the peaks of the resonances are suppressed by increasing supercurrent Is.展开更多
We present an analytical result for the supercurrent across a superconductor/quantum-dot/superconductor junction. By converting the current integration into a special contour integral, we can express the current as a ...We present an analytical result for the supercurrent across a superconductor/quantum-dot/superconductor junction. By converting the current integration into a special contour integral, we can express the current as a sum of the residues of poles. These poles are real and give a natural definition of the Andreev bound states. We also use the exact result to explain some features of the supercurrent transport behavior.展开更多
We present the findings of spin-dependent single-hole and pair-hole transport in plane and across the p-type high mobility silicon quantum wells (Si-QW), 2 nm, confined by the superconductor δ-barriers on the n-type ...We present the findings of spin-dependent single-hole and pair-hole transport in plane and across the p-type high mobility silicon quantum wells (Si-QW), 2 nm, confined by the superconductor δ-barriers on the n-type Si (100) surface. The oscillations of the conductance in normal state and the zero-resistance supercurrent in superconductor state as a function of the top gate voltage are found to be correlated by on- and off-resonance tuning the two-dimensional levels of holes in Si-QW with the Fermi energy in the superconductor δ-barriers. The SIMS and STM studies have shown that the δ-barriers heavily doped with boron, 5 × 1021 cm–3, represent really alternating arrays of silicon empty and doped dots, with dimensions restricted to 2 nm. This concentration of boron seems to indicate that each doped dot located between empty dots contains two impurity atoms of boron. The EPR studies show that these boron pairs are the trigonal dipole centres, B+ - B–, that contain the pairs of holes, which result from the negative -U reconstruction of the shallow boron acceptors, 2B0 => B+ - B–. The electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements demonstrate that the high density of holes in the Si-QW (> 1011 cm–2) gives rise to the high temperature superconductor properties for the δ-barriers. The value of the superconductor energy gap obtained is in a good agreement with the data derived from the oscillations of the conductance in normal state and of the zero-resistance supercurrent in superconductor state as a function of the bias voltage. These oscillations appear to be correlated by on- and off-resonance tuning the two-dimensional subbands of holes with the Fermi energy in the superconductor δ-barriers. Finally, the proximity effect in the S-Si-QW-S structure is revealed by the findings of the quantization of the supercurrent and the multiple Andreev reflection (MAR) observed both across and along the Si-QW plane thereby identifying the spin transistor effect.展开更多
The interplay between novel topological states and superconductivity has garnered substantial interest due to its potential for topological quantum computing.The Josephson effect serves as a useful probe for edge supe...The interplay between novel topological states and superconductivity has garnered substantial interest due to its potential for topological quantum computing.The Josephson effect serves as a useful probe for edge superconductivity in these hybrid topological materials.In Josephson junctions based on topological materials,supercurrents exhibit unique quantum interference patterns,including the conventional Fraunhofer oscillations,theΦ_(0)-periodic oscillation,and the 2Φ_(0)-periodic oscillation in response to the external magnetic field(Φ_(0)=h/2e is the flux quantum,h the Planck constant,and e the electron charge).These interference patterns stem from varied Andreev reflection mechanisms and the associated current density profiles.This review seeks to comprehensively examine the theoretical and experimental advancements in understanding the quantum interference patterns of edge supercurrents in Josephson junctions based on quantum spin Hall,quantum Hall,and quantum anomalous Hall systems.展开更多
The application of a gate voltage to control the superconducting current flowing through a nanoscale superconducting constriction,named as gate-controlled supercurrent(GCS),has raised great interest for fundamental an...The application of a gate voltage to control the superconducting current flowing through a nanoscale superconducting constriction,named as gate-controlled supercurrent(GCS),has raised great interest for fundamental and technological reasons.To gain a deeper understanding of this effect and develop superconducting technologies based on it,the material and physical parameters crucial for the GCS effect must be identified.Top-down fabrication protocols should also be optimized to increase device scalability,although studies suggest that top-down fabricated devices are more resilient to show a GCS.Here,we investigate gated superconducting nanobridges made with a top-down fabrication process from thin films of the noncentrosymmetric superconductor niobium rhenium with varying ratios of the constituents(NbRe).Unlike other devices previously reported and made with a top-down approach,our NbRe devices systematically exhibit a GCS effect when they were fabricated from NbRe thin films with small grain size and etched in specific conditions.These observations pave the way for the realization of top-down-made GCS devices with high scalability.Our results also imply that physical parameters like structural disorder and surface physical properties of the nanobridges,which can be in turn modified by the fabrication process,are crucial for a GCS observation,providing therefore also important insights into the physics underlying the GCS effect.展开更多
The spin superconductor state is the spin-polarized triplet exciton condensate,which can be viewed as a counterpart of the charge superconductor state.As an analogy of the charge Josephson effect,the spin Josephson ef...The spin superconductor state is the spin-polarized triplet exciton condensate,which can be viewed as a counterpart of the charge superconductor state.As an analogy of the charge Josephson effect,the spin Josephson effect can be generated in the spin superconductor/normal metal/spin superconductor junctions.Here we study the spin supercurrent in the Josephson junctions consisting of two spin superconductors with noncollinear spin polarizations.For the Josephson junctions with out-of-plane spin polarizations,the possibleπ-state spin supercurrent appears due to the Fermi momentum-splitting Andreev-like reflections at the normal metal/spin superconductor interfaces.For the Josephson junctions with in-plane spin polarizations,the anomalous spin supercurrent appears and is driven by the misorientation angle of the in-plane polarizations.The symmetry analysis shows that the appearance of the anomalous spin Josephson current is possible when the combined symmetry of the spin rotation and the time reversal is broken.展开更多
We re-visit the anomalous sign reversal problem in the Hall effect of the sputtered Nb thin films. We find that the anomalous sign reversal in the Hall effect is extremely sensitive to a small tilting of the magnetic ...We re-visit the anomalous sign reversal problem in the Hall effect of the sputtered Nb thin films. We find that the anomalous sign reversal in the Hall effect is extremely sensitive to a small tilting of the magnetic field and to the magnitude of the applied current. Large anomalous variations are also observed in the symmetric part of the transverse resistance R_(xy).We suggest that the surface current loops on superconducting grains at the edges of the superconducting thin films may be responsible for the Hall sign reversal and the accompanying anomalous effects in the symmetric part of R_(xy).展开更多
Individual metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes show unusual non-Ohmic transport behaviors at low and high bias fields. For low-resistance contact samples, the differential conductance increases with increasing bias,...Individual metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes show unusual non-Ohmic transport behaviors at low and high bias fields. For low-resistance contact samples, the differential conductance increases with increasing bias, reaching a maximum at ~100 mV. As the bias increases further, drops dramatically [1]. The higher the bias, the system behaves in a more normal (Ohmic) manner. This low-bias anomaly is temperature-dependent (50 - 150 K). We propose a new interpretation. Supercurrents run in the graphene wall below ~150 K. The normal hole currents run on the outer surface of the wall, which are subject to the scattering by phonons and impurities. The currents along the tube length generate circulating magnetic fields and eventually destroy the supercurrent in the wall at high enough bias, and restore the Ohmic behavior. If the prevalent ballistic electron model is adopted, then the temperature-dependent scattering effects cannot be discussed. For the high bias (0.3 - 5 V), (a) the I-V curves are temperature-independent (4 - 150 K), and (b) the currents (magnitudes) saturate. The behavior (a) arises from the fact that the neutral supercurrent below the critical temperature is not accelerated by the electric field. The behavior (b) is caused by the limitation of the number of quantum-states for the “holes” running outside of the tube.展开更多
We investigate electronic transport in Josephson junctions formed by individual single-walled carbon nanotubes coupled to superconducting electrodes.We observe enhanced zero-bias conductance(up to 10e2/h)and pronounce...We investigate electronic transport in Josephson junctions formed by individual single-walled carbon nanotubes coupled to superconducting electrodes.We observe enhanced zero-bias conductance(up to 10e2/h)and pronounced sub-harmonic gap structures in differential conductance,which arise from the multiple Andreev refl ections at superconductor/nanotube interfaces.The voltage-current characteristics of these junctions display abrupt switching from the supercurrent branch to the resistive branch,with a gate-tunable switching current ranging from 65 pA to 2.5 nA.The fi nite resistance observed on the supercurrent branch and the magnitude of the switching current are in good agreement with the classical phase diffusion model for resistively and capacitively shunted junctions.展开更多
文摘It is shown that such phenomena as quantum correlations (interaction of space-separated quantum entities), the action of magnetic vector potential on quantum entities in the absence of magnetic field, and near-field antenna effect (the existence of superluminally propagating electromagnetic fields) may be explained by action of spin supercurrents. In case of quantum correlations between quantum entities, spin supercurrent emerges between virtual particles pairs (virtual photons) created by those quantum entities. The explanation of magnetic vector potential and near-field antenna effect is based on contemporary principle of quantum mechanics: the physical vacuum is not an empty space but the ground state of the field consisting of quantum harmonic oscillators (QHOs) characterized by zero-point energy. Using the properties of the oscillators and spin supercurrent, it is proved that magnetic vector potential is proportional to the moment causing the orientation of spin of QHO along the direction of magnetic field. The near-field antenna effect is supposed to take place as a result of action of spin supercurrent causing secondary electromagnetic oscillations. In this way, the electromagnetic field may spread at the speed of spin supercurrent. As spin supercurrent is an inertia free process, its speed may be greater than that of light, which does not contradict postulates of special relativity that sets limits to the speed of inertial systems only.
基金Project supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Provincial Education Commission of China (Grant No06KJB140009)
文摘This paper applies the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation and the Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk approach to study the oscillatory behaviour of differential conductance in a normal metal/insulator/metal/d-wave superconductor junction carrying a supercurrent Is. We find that （i） a three-humped structure appears at a nearly critical supercurrent Is and z ≈ 0.5 for the normal metal/insulator/metal/dx^2＋y^2-wave superconductor junction; （ii） the zero-bias conductance peak splits into two peaks with sufficiently large applied current for the normal metal/insulator/metal/dxy-wave superconductor junction; （iii） the conductance spectrum exhibits oscillating behaviour with the bias voltage and the peaks of the resonances are suppressed by increasing supercurrent Is.
文摘We present an analytical result for the supercurrent across a superconductor/quantum-dot/superconductor junction. By converting the current integration into a special contour integral, we can express the current as a sum of the residues of poles. These poles are real and give a natural definition of the Andreev bound states. We also use the exact result to explain some features of the supercurrent transport behavior.
文摘We present the findings of spin-dependent single-hole and pair-hole transport in plane and across the p-type high mobility silicon quantum wells (Si-QW), 2 nm, confined by the superconductor δ-barriers on the n-type Si (100) surface. The oscillations of the conductance in normal state and the zero-resistance supercurrent in superconductor state as a function of the top gate voltage are found to be correlated by on- and off-resonance tuning the two-dimensional levels of holes in Si-QW with the Fermi energy in the superconductor δ-barriers. The SIMS and STM studies have shown that the δ-barriers heavily doped with boron, 5 × 1021 cm–3, represent really alternating arrays of silicon empty and doped dots, with dimensions restricted to 2 nm. This concentration of boron seems to indicate that each doped dot located between empty dots contains two impurity atoms of boron. The EPR studies show that these boron pairs are the trigonal dipole centres, B+ - B–, that contain the pairs of holes, which result from the negative -U reconstruction of the shallow boron acceptors, 2B0 => B+ - B–. The electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements demonstrate that the high density of holes in the Si-QW (> 1011 cm–2) gives rise to the high temperature superconductor properties for the δ-barriers. The value of the superconductor energy gap obtained is in a good agreement with the data derived from the oscillations of the conductance in normal state and of the zero-resistance supercurrent in superconductor state as a function of the bias voltage. These oscillations appear to be correlated by on- and off-resonance tuning the two-dimensional subbands of holes with the Fermi energy in the superconductor δ-barriers. Finally, the proximity effect in the S-Si-QW-S structure is revealed by the findings of the quantization of the supercurrent and the multiple Andreev reflection (MAR) observed both across and along the Si-QW plane thereby identifying the spin transistor effect.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.12204053,and 92265103)the Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology(Grant No.2021ZD0302400)。
文摘The interplay between novel topological states and superconductivity has garnered substantial interest due to its potential for topological quantum computing.The Josephson effect serves as a useful probe for edge superconductivity in these hybrid topological materials.In Josephson junctions based on topological materials,supercurrents exhibit unique quantum interference patterns,including the conventional Fraunhofer oscillations,theΦ_(0)-periodic oscillation,and the 2Φ_(0)-periodic oscillation in response to the external magnetic field(Φ_(0)=h/2e is the flux quantum,h the Planck constant,and e the electron charge).These interference patterns stem from varied Andreev reflection mechanisms and the associated current density profiles.This review seeks to comprehensively examine the theoretical and experimental advancements in understanding the quantum interference patterns of edge supercurrents in Josephson junctions based on quantum spin Hall,quantum Hall,and quantum anomalous Hall systems.
基金the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement No.964398(SuperGate)the US ONR(Nos.N00014-21-1-2879,N00014-20-1-2442,and N00014-23-1-2866).
文摘The application of a gate voltage to control the superconducting current flowing through a nanoscale superconducting constriction,named as gate-controlled supercurrent(GCS),has raised great interest for fundamental and technological reasons.To gain a deeper understanding of this effect and develop superconducting technologies based on it,the material and physical parameters crucial for the GCS effect must be identified.Top-down fabrication protocols should also be optimized to increase device scalability,although studies suggest that top-down fabricated devices are more resilient to show a GCS.Here,we investigate gated superconducting nanobridges made with a top-down fabrication process from thin films of the noncentrosymmetric superconductor niobium rhenium with varying ratios of the constituents(NbRe).Unlike other devices previously reported and made with a top-down approach,our NbRe devices systematically exhibit a GCS effect when they were fabricated from NbRe thin films with small grain size and etched in specific conditions.These observations pave the way for the realization of top-down-made GCS devices with high scalability.Our results also imply that physical parameters like structural disorder and surface physical properties of the nanobridges,which can be in turn modified by the fabrication process,are crucial for a GCS observation,providing therefore also important insights into the physics underlying the GCS effect.
基金Project supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2022YFA1403601).
文摘The spin superconductor state is the spin-polarized triplet exciton condensate,which can be viewed as a counterpart of the charge superconductor state.As an analogy of the charge Josephson effect,the spin Josephson effect can be generated in the spin superconductor/normal metal/spin superconductor junctions.Here we study the spin supercurrent in the Josephson junctions consisting of two spin superconductors with noncollinear spin polarizations.For the Josephson junctions with out-of-plane spin polarizations,the possibleπ-state spin supercurrent appears due to the Fermi momentum-splitting Andreev-like reflections at the normal metal/spin superconductor interfaces.For the Josephson junctions with in-plane spin polarizations,the anomalous spin supercurrent appears and is driven by the misorientation angle of the in-plane polarizations.The symmetry analysis shows that the appearance of the anomalous spin Josephson current is possible when the combined symmetry of the spin rotation and the time reversal is broken.
基金partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51772200) (PI: R. J. Tang)。
文摘We re-visit the anomalous sign reversal problem in the Hall effect of the sputtered Nb thin films. We find that the anomalous sign reversal in the Hall effect is extremely sensitive to a small tilting of the magnetic field and to the magnitude of the applied current. Large anomalous variations are also observed in the symmetric part of the transverse resistance R_(xy).We suggest that the surface current loops on superconducting grains at the edges of the superconducting thin films may be responsible for the Hall sign reversal and the accompanying anomalous effects in the symmetric part of R_(xy).
文摘Individual metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes show unusual non-Ohmic transport behaviors at low and high bias fields. For low-resistance contact samples, the differential conductance increases with increasing bias, reaching a maximum at ~100 mV. As the bias increases further, drops dramatically [1]. The higher the bias, the system behaves in a more normal (Ohmic) manner. This low-bias anomaly is temperature-dependent (50 - 150 K). We propose a new interpretation. Supercurrents run in the graphene wall below ~150 K. The normal hole currents run on the outer surface of the wall, which are subject to the scattering by phonons and impurities. The currents along the tube length generate circulating magnetic fields and eventually destroy the supercurrent in the wall at high enough bias, and restore the Ohmic behavior. If the prevalent ballistic electron model is adopted, then the temperature-dependent scattering effects cannot be discussed. For the high bias (0.3 - 5 V), (a) the I-V curves are temperature-independent (4 - 150 K), and (b) the currents (magnitudes) saturate. The behavior (a) arises from the fact that the neutral supercurrent below the critical temperature is not accelerated by the electric field. The behavior (b) is caused by the limitation of the number of quantum-states for the “holes” running outside of the tube.
文摘We investigate electronic transport in Josephson junctions formed by individual single-walled carbon nanotubes coupled to superconducting electrodes.We observe enhanced zero-bias conductance(up to 10e2/h)and pronounced sub-harmonic gap structures in differential conductance,which arise from the multiple Andreev refl ections at superconductor/nanotube interfaces.The voltage-current characteristics of these junctions display abrupt switching from the supercurrent branch to the resistive branch,with a gate-tunable switching current ranging from 65 pA to 2.5 nA.The fi nite resistance observed on the supercurrent branch and the magnitude of the switching current are in good agreement with the classical phase diffusion model for resistively and capacitively shunted junctions.
