2011/08/08 by Dganit Meidan, Bernd Rosenow, Yuval Oreg +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Atmospheric temperature range #Condensed matter physics #Excitation #Gapless playback #Materials science #Phase (matter) #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quantum tunnelling #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Quasiparticle #Superconductivity #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.107.227004
published in Physical Review Letters 107(22), 227004 (American Physical Society) · 4 pages, 2 figures
arxiv created 2011/08/08 · openalex publication_date 2011/11/22 · arxiv updated 2013/07/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the low-temperature tunneling density of states of thin wires where superconductivity is destroyed through quantum phase-slip proliferation. Although this regime is believed to behave as an insulator, we show that for a large temperature range this phase is characterized by a conductivity falling off at most linearly with temperature, and has a gapless excitation spectrum. This novel conducting phase results from electron-electron interaction induced pair breaking. Also, it may help clarify the low-temperature metallic features found in films and wires whose bulk realization is superconducting.