2001/08/29 by L. M. Hernandez, A. Bhattacharya, Hernandez, L. M. +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn) #FOS: Physical sciences #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con) #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0108504
4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2001/10/14 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
Dramatic glass-like behavior involving nonexponential relaxation of in-plane electrical conduction, has been induced in quench-condensed ultrathin amorphous Bi films by the application of a parallel magnetic field. The effect is found over a narrow range of film thicknesses well on the insulating side of the thickness-tuned superconductor-insulator transition. The simplest explanation of this field-induced glass-like behavior is a Pauli principle blocking of hopping transport between singly occupied states when electrons are polarized by the magnetic field. A second explanation involving weak coupling of superconducting clusters by intercluster interactions of random sign is also discussed.