Sharp Superconductor-Insulator Transition in Short Wires

Abstract

Recent experiments on short MoGe nanowires show a sharp superconductor-insulator transition tuned by the normal state resistance of the wire, with a critical resistance of $R_c\approx R_Q=h/(4e^2)$. These results are at odds with a broad range of theoretical work on Josephson-like systems that predicts a smooth transition, tuned by the value of the resistance that shunts the junction. We develop a self-consistent renormalization group treatment of interacting phase-slips and their dual counterparts, correlated cooper pair tunneling, beyond the dilute approximation. This analysis leads to a very sharp transition with a critical resistance of $R_Q$. The addition of the quasi-particles' resistance at finite temperature leads to a quantitative agreement with the experimental results. This self-consistent renormalization group method should also be applicable to other physical systems that can be mapped onto similar sine-Gordon models, in the previously inaccessible intermediate-coupling regime.

11 pages, 5 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of "Fluctuations and phase transitions in superconductors", Nazareth Ilit, Israel, 2007. To be published in Physica C, vol. 468

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• Quantum suppression of superconductivity in ultrathin nanowires
• Quantum Phase Slips in Superconducting Nanowires
• Quantum Tunneling of the Order Parameter in Superconducting Nanowires
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• Quantum fluctuations in thin superconducting wires of finite length
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• Dichotomy in short superconducting nanowires: thermal phase slippage vs. Coulomb blockade
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