Dichotomy in short superconducting nanowires: thermal phase slippage vs. Coulomb blockade

Abstract

Quasi-one-dimensional superconductors or nanowires exhibit a transition into a nonsuperconducting regime, as their diameter shrinks. We present measurements on ultrashort nanowires (~40-190 nm long) in the vicinity of this quantum transition. Properties of all wires in the superconducting phase, even those close to the transition, can be explained in terms of thermally activated phase slips. The behavior of nanowires in the nonsuperconducting phase agrees with the theories of the Coulomb blockade of coherent transport through mesoscopic normal metal conductors. Thus it is concluded that the quantum transition occurs between two phases: a "true superconducting phase" and an "insulating phase". No intermediate, "metallic" phase was found.

7 pages, 4 figures; published in Europhysics Letters; revised title, text, and figures reflecting changes made during review process

References in corpus (3)

• Universal conductance of nanowires near the superconductor-metal quantum transition
• Quantum phase slips in the presence of finite-range disorder
• Dimensionality effects on non-equilibrium electronic transport in Cu nanobridges

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Phase-slip induced dissipation in an atomic Bose-Hubbard system
• Thermal fluctuations in superconducting nanowires
• Determination of the Superconductor-Insulator Phase Diagram for One-Dimensional Wires
• Sharp Superconductor-Insulator Transition in Short Wires
• Formation of Quantum Phase Slip Pairs in Superconducting Nanowires
• Universal thermal and electrical transport near the superconductor-metal quantum phase transition in nanowires
• Theory of the pairbreaking superconductor-metal transition in nanowires
• Quantum mechanics of superconducting nanowires
• Quantum phase slips in a confined geometry