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The resistive transition and superconducting properties of optically illuminated tin microstrips

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We report on experiments in which superconducting tin microstrips at temperatures >1/2T cwere illuminated, both cw and pulsed, by an argon laser. The illuminated films cannot in general be modeled in terms of a spatially uniform effective temperature. Even when care is taken to ensure that the illumination is spatially uniform to within ~5% over the area of the strips, the resistive transition far from T cextends over a range of laser powers which is ~25% of the power necessary to drive the strips completely normal. The critical current of each strip decreases smoothly to zero and the current-voltage characteristics smoothly approach that of the normal state as the laser power is increased, indicating the probable absence of a first-order transition in any section of the strips. However, the behavior of the current-voltage characteristics of one strip is consistent with what might be expected if a spatially inhomogeneous state were to develop suddenly as the laser power is increased. Possible explanations are discussed.

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Author notes

  1. L. N. Smith

    Present address: Sperry Research Center, Sudbury, Massachusetts

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

    L. N. Smith

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  1. L. N. Smith
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Research supported in part by the Joint Services Electronics Program and the National Sciences Program.

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Smith, L.N. The resistive transition and superconducting properties of optically illuminated tin microstrips. J Low Temp Phys 38, 553–569 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115488

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115488

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