2005/03/31 by S. Khlebnikov, Leonid P. Pryadko
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.95.107007
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 107007 (2005) · 4 pages, as accepted at Phys. Rev. Letters
arxiv created 2005/07/26 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
To study the effect of disorder on quantum phase slips (QPS) in superconducting wires, we consider the plasmon-only model where disorder can be incorporated into a first-principles instanton calculation. We consider weak but general finite-range disorder and compute the formfactor in the QPS rate associated with momentum transfer. We find that the system maps onto dissipative quantum mechanics, with the dissipative coefficient controlled by the wave (plasmon) impedance Z of the wire and with a superconductor-insulator transition at Z=6.5 kOhm. We speculate that the system will remain in this universality class after resistive effects at the QPS core are taken into account.