A superconducting switch actuated by injection of high-energy electrons.

Recent experiments with metallic nanowires devices seem to indicate that superconductivity can be controlled by the application of electric fields. In such experiments, critical currents are tuned and eventually suppressed by relatively small voltages applied to nearby gate electrodes, at odds with current understanding of electrostatic screening in metals. We investigate the impact of gate voltages on superconductivity in similar metal nanowires. Varying materials and device geometries, we study the physical mechanism behind the quench of superconductivity. We demonstrate that the transition from superconducting to resistive state can be understood in detail by tunneling of high-energy electrons from the gate contact to the nanowire, resulting in quasiparticle generation and, at sufficiently large currents, heating. Onset of critical current suppression occurs below gate currents of 100fA, which are challenging to detect in typical experiments.

Inductive measurement of optically hyperpolarized phosphorous donor nuclei in an isotopically enriched silicon-28 crystal.

We experimentally demonstrate the first inductive readout of optically hyperpolarized phosphorus-31 donor nuclear spins in an isotopically enriched silicon-28 crystal. The concentration of phosphorus donors in the crystal was 1.5×10(15) cm(-3), 3 orders of magnitude lower than has previously been detected via direct inductive detection. The signal-to-noise ratio measured in a single free induction decay from a 1 cm(3) sample (≈10(15) spins) was 113. By transferring the sample to an X-band ESR spectrometer, we were able to obtain a lower bound for the nuclear spin polarization at 1.7 K of ∼64%. The (31)P-T2 measured with a Hahn echo sequence was 420 ms at 1.7 K, which was extended to 1.2 s with a Carr Purcell cycle. The T1 of the (31)P nuclear spins at 1.7 K is extremely long and could not be determined, as no decay was observed even on a time scale of 4.5 h. Optical excitation was performed with a 1047 nm laser, which provided above-band-gap excitation of the silicon. The buildup of the hyperpolarization at 4.2 K followed a single exponential with a characteristic time of 577 s, while the buildup at 1.7 K showed biexponential behavior with characteristic time constants of 578 and 5670 s.

Fluorine dynamics in BaF2 crystal lattice as an example of complex motion in a simple system.

Fluorine relaxation profiles for a BaF(2) single crystal collected at several temperatures have been analyzed in terms of essentially different motional models: free rotational and free translational diffusion. The analysis has been performed to critically review the sensitivity of field dependent relaxation studies to mechanisms of molecular motions. The tested motional models do not realistically describe the fluorine dynamics within the crystal lattice. They have been chosen to attempt to answer quite fundamental questions regarding the feasibility of the field dependent nuclear spin relaxation studies to provide unique information on dynamic processes: 1. Is it possible to get information about the motional mechanisms by analyzing relaxation profiles collected in a broad frequency range? 2. To what extent is it possible to reasonably reproduce relaxation profiles in terms of unrealistic motional models? It has been concluded from the analysis that the rotational model leading to a single exponential correlation function explains the experimental data much better than the translational one. Validity regimes of the second order perturbation theory have been discussed in the context of the investigated system and the applied models.

Field cycling methods as a tool for dynamics investigations in solid state systems: recent theoretical progress.

In this paper physical mechanisms and theoretical treatments of polarization transfer and field-dependent relaxation in solid state systems, containing mutually coupled spins of spin quantum numbers I=12 (spins 12) and S1 (quadrupolar spins), are presented. First, theoretical descriptions of these effects are given in detail for an illustrative, simple system. Next, it is shown how to generalize the theories to much more complex spin systems. The polarization transfer and relaxation effects are illustrated by several examples. Typical misunderstandings regarding their physical origins are clarified. This paper reviews recent theoretical descriptions of the polarization transfer and relaxation phenomena. Its goal is to popularize the proper theoretical treatments with the intention to establish them as standard tools for analyzing field cycling data.