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Phase-slip centers and nonequilibrium processes in superconducting tin microbridges

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Abstract

We show experimentally that steps in theI–V curves of long, superconducting microbridges nearT c are due to spatially localized voltage units (interpreted as quantum phase-slip centers) which appear at local critical currents determined primarily by variations ofT c along the bridge. We also observe the ac Josephson effect associated with such centers. At low voltages each center carries a time-averaged supercurrent of ∼1/2 I c and exhibits a temperature-independent differential resistance due to normal current flow governed by the quasiparticle diffusion length. Our phenomenological model of this behavior includes a simplfied description of both the superfluid dynamics and the spatial healing of the resulting disequilibrium between superconducting pairs and quasiparticles. Our data indicate that the relaxation time associated with the nonequilibrium is typical of inelastic scattering times for electrons near the Fermi surface of normal tin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Division of Engineering and Applied Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

    W. J. Skocpol, M. R. Beasley & M. Tinkham

Authors
  1. W. J. Skocpol
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  2. M. R. Beasley
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  3. M. Tinkham
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Additional information

Work supported in part by the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, and the Joint Services Electronics Program.

Danforth Fellow.

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Skocpol, W.J., Beasley, M.R. & Tinkham, M. Phase-slip centers and nonequilibrium processes in superconducting tin microbridges. J Low Temp Phys 16, 145–167 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00655865

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00655865

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