Decay of near-critical currents in superconducting nanowires

Sergei Khlebnikov
Phys. Rev. B 94, 064517 – Published 23 August 2016

Abstract

We consider decay of supercurrent via phase slips in a discrete one-dimensional superconductor (a chain of nodes connected by superconducting links), aiming to explain the experimentally observed power-3/2 scaling of the activation barrier in nanowires at currents close to the critical. We find that, in this discrete model, the power-3/2 scaling holds for both long and short wires even in the presence of bulk superconducting leads, despite the suppression of thermal fluctuations at the ends. We also consider decay via tunneling (quantum phase slips), which becomes important at low temperatures. We find numerically the relevant Euclidean solutions (periodic instantons) and determine the scaling of the tunneling exponent near the critical current. The scaling law is power 5/4, different from that of the thermal activation exponent.

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  • Received 27 April 2016
  • Revised 20 June 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.064517

©2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Physical Systems
Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Sergei Khlebnikov*

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA

  • *skhleb@purdue.edu

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Issue

Vol. 94, Iss. 6 — 1 August 2016

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