Phase slips in superconducting films with constrictions

Abstract

A system of two coplanar superconducting films seamlessly connected by a bridge is studied. We observe two distinct resistive transitions as the temperature is reduced. The first one, occurring in the films, shows some properties of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition. The second apparent transition (which is in fact a crossover) is related to freezing out of thermally activated phase slips (TAPS) localized on the bridge. We also propose a powerful indirect experimental method allowing an extraction of the sample's zero-bias resistance from high-current-bias measurements. Using direct and indirect measurements, we determined the resistance $R(T)$ of the bridges within a range of {\em eleven orders of magnitude}. Over such broad range, the resistance follows a simple relation $R(T)=R_N\text{exp}[-(c/t)(1-t{)}^{3/2}]$, where $c=\Delta F(0)/k{T}_c$ is the normalized free energy of a phase slip at zero temperature, $t=T/T_c$ is normalized temperature, and $R_N$ is the normal resistance of the bridge.

6 pages, 5 figures; corrected typos/grammatical errors and made other minor changes to text; updated figures - changes are visual, no content changes

References in corpus (6)

• Quantum suppression of superconductivity in ultrathin nanowires
• Quantum Phase Slips in Superconducting Nanowires
• Superconducting properties of polycrystalline Nb nanowires templated by carbon nanotubes
• Suppression of $\bbox{T_c}$ in superconducting amorphous wires
• The effect of morphology on the superconductor-insulator transition in 1-D nanowires
• Dynamic Scaling and Two-Dimensional High-Tc Superconductors

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Magnetic field enhancement of superconductivity in ultra-narrow wires
• Resistance in Superconductors
• Nanoscale superconducting memory based on the kinetic inductance of asymmetric nanowire loops
• Improved nanopatterning for YBCO nanowires approaching the depairing current
• Tailoring phase slip events through magnetic doping in superconductor-ferromagnet composite films
• Fate of the Josephson effect in thin-film superconductors
• Suppression of superconductivity due to non-perturbative saddle points in the nonlinear $\sigma$-model
• Supercurrent-Controlled Kinetic Inductance Superconducting Memory
• Josephson Coupling in the Dissipative State of a Thermally Hysteretic $\mu$-SQUID
• Suppression of 2π phase-slip due to hidden zero modes in one dimensional topological superconductors
• Threshold Perturbations in Current-Carrying Superconducting Bridges with a Finite Length near the Critical Temperature
• Giant amplification of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature in superconducting systems characterized by cooperative interplay of small-gapped valence and conduction bands
• Universal point contact resistance between thin-film superconductors
• Observation of excess resistance anomaly at resistive transitions in Ag/Au nanostructures