Quantum mechanics of superconducting nanowires

Abstract

In a short superconducting nanowire connected to bulk superconducting leads, quantum phase slips behave as a system of linearly (as opposed to logarithmically) interacting charges. This system maps onto quantum mechanics of a particle in a periodic potential. We show that, while the state with a high density of phase slips is not a true insulator (a consequence of Josephson tunneling between the leads), for a range of parameters it behaves as such down to unobservably small temperatures. We also show that quantum phase slips give rise to multiple branches (bands) in the energy-current relation and to an interband ("exciton") mode.

6 pages, 1 figure; published in Phys. Rev. B

References in corpus (9)

• Quantum suppression of superconductivity in ultrathin nanowires
• Persistent current in superconducting nanorings
• Evidence for Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling of Phase Slips in Long One-Dimensional Superconducting Al Wires
• Quantum fluctuations in ultranarrow superconducting nanowires
• Dichotomy in short superconducting nanowires: thermal phase slippage vs. Coulomb blockade
• Sharp Superconductor-Insulator Transition in Short Wires
• The Effect of Quantum Phase Slip Interactions on the Transport of Thin Superconducting Wires
• Quantum phase slips in the presence of finite-range disorder
• Quantum phase slips in a confined geometry

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Fractional Order Shapiro Steps in Superconducting Nanowires
• Quantitative analysis of quantum phase slips in superconducting MoGe nanowires revealed by switching-current statistics
• Current-phase Relationship, Thermal and Quantum Phase Slips in Superconducting Nanowires made on Scaffold Created using Adhesive Tape
• Flux-charge duality and topological quantum phase fluctuations in quasi-one-dimensional superconductors
• Cratered Lorentzian response of driven microwave superconducting nanowire-bridged resonators: oscillatory and magnetic-field induced stochastic states