2004/01/19 by A. T. Bollinger, Andrey Rogachev, A. Rogachev +4 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Composite material #Condensed matter physics #Critical current #Insulator (electricity) #Materials science #Nanotechnology #Nanowire #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Superconductivity #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Transition temperature #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.69.180503
4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table
arxiv created 2004/01/19 · openalex publication_date 2004/05/05 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the effect of morphology on the low-temperature behavior of superconducting nanowires which vary in length from 86 nm to 188 nm. A well-defined superconductor-insulator transition is observed only in the family of homogeneous wires, in which case the transition occurs when the normal resistance is close to h/4e2. Inhomogeneous wires, on the other hand, exhibit a mixed behavior, such that signatures of the superconducting and insulating regimes can be observed in the same sample. The resistance versus temperature curves of inhomogeneous wires show multiple steps, each corresponding to a weak link constriction (WLC) present in the wire. Similarly, each WLC generates a differential resistance peak when the bias current reaches the critical current of the WLC. Due to the presence of WLC's an inhomogeneous wire splits into a sequence of weakly interacting segments where each segment can act as a superconductor or as an insulator. Thus the entire wire then shows a mixed behavior.