Magnetic flux-line lattices and vortices in the copper oxide superconductors

A variety of recent experiments on both the static and the dynamic properties of vortices and flux-line lattices in the mixed state of the copper oxide superconductors are discussed. The experiments are of two basic types: (i) experiments that image the magnetic flux patterns either with magnetic decoration or neutrons and give information about static structures, and (ii) experiments that explore the dynamics of vortices either through the resistivity or other electrodynamic responses of the material. Results of these experiments argue in favor of the existence of a true phase transition in the high-field vortex state from a low-temperature superconducting vortex glass phase into a disordered high-temperature vortex fluid phase. The vortex glass phase transition model does a good job of explaining high-precision measurements of the dynamics at the transition. At low fields and temperatures, very long range hexatic order in the flux-line lattice is observed.     

Competition of superconducting phenomena and Kondo screening at the nanoscale

Magnetic and superconducting interactions couple electrons together to form complex states of matter. We show that, at the atomic scale, both types of interactions can coexist and compete to influence the ground state of a localized magnetic moment. Local spectroscopy at 4.5 kelvin shows that the spin-1 system formed by manganese-phthalocyanine (MnPc) adsorbed on Pb(111) can lie in two different magnetic ground states. These are determined by the balance between Kondo screening and superconducting pair-breaking interactions. Both ground states alternate at nanometer length scales to form a Moiré-like superstructure. The quantum phase transition connecting the two (singlet and doublet) ground states is thus tuned by small changes in the molecule-lead interaction.     

Spins in the vortices of a high-temperature superconductor

Neutron scattering is used to characterize the magnetism of the vortices for the optimally doped high-temperature superconductor La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO4 (x = 0.163) in an applied magnetic field. As temperature is reduced, low-frequency spin fluctuations first disappear with the loss of vortex mobility, but then reappear. We find that the vortex state can be regarded as an inhomogeneous mixture of a superconducting spin fluid and a material containing a nearly ordered antiferromagnet. These experiments show that as for many other properties of cuprate superconductors, the important underlying microscopic forces are magnetic.     

Tuning the quantum stability and superconductivity of ultrathin metal alloys

Quantum confinement of itinerant electrons in atomically smooth ultrathin lead films produces strong oscillations in the thickness-dependent film energy. By adding extra electrons via bismuth alloying, we showed that both the structural stability and the superconducting properties of such films can be tuned. The phase boundary (upper critical field) between the superconducting vortex state and the normal state indicates an anomalous suppression of superconducting order just below the critical temperature, Tc. This suppression varies systematically with the film thickness and the bismuth content and can be parametrized in terms of a characteristic temperature, Tc* (less than Tc), that is inversely proportional to the scattering mean free path. The results indicate that the isotropic nature of the superconductive pairing in bulk lead-bismuth alloys is altered in the quantum regime.     

Superconducting pair correlations in an amorphous insulating nanohoneycomb film

The Cooper pairing mechanism that binds single electrons to form pairs in metals allows electrons to circumvent the exclusion principle and condense into a single superconducting or zero-resistance state. We present results from an amorphous bismuth film system patterned with a nanohoneycomb array of holes, which undergoes a thickness-tuned insulator-superconductor transition. The insulating films exhibit activated resistances and magnetoresistance oscillations dictated by the superconducting flux quantum h/2e. This 2e period is direct evidence indicating that Cooper pairing is also responsible for electrically insulating behavior.     

Spin transfer torques in MnSi at ultralow current densities

Spin manipulation using electric currents is one of the most promising directions in the field of spintronics. We used neutron scattering to observe the influence of an electric current on the magnetic structure in a bulk material. In the skyrmion lattice of manganese silicon, where the spins form a lattice of magnetic vortices similar to the vortex lattice in type II superconductors, we observe the rotation of the diffraction pattern in response to currents that are over five orders of magnitude smaller than those typically applied in experimental studies on current-driven magnetization dynamics in nanostructures. We attribute our observations to an extremely efficient coupling of inhomogeneous spin currents to topologically stable knots in spin structures.     

Flip-flopping fractional flux quanta

The d-wave pairing symmetry in high-critical temperature superconductors makes it possible to realize superconducting rings with built-in pi phase shifts. Such rings have a twofold degenerate ground state that is characterized by the spontaneous generation of fractional magnetic flux quanta with either up or down polarity. We have incorporated pi phase-biased superconducting rings in a logic circuit, a flip-flop, in which the fractional flux polarity is controllably toggled by applying single flux quantum pulses at the input channel. The integration of p rings into conventional rapid single flux quantum logic as natural two-state devices should alleviate the need for bias current lines, improve device symmetry, and enhance the operation margins.     

Manipulating the quantum state of an electrical circuit

We have designed and operated a superconducting tunnel junction circuit that behaves as a two-level atom: the "quantronium." An arbitrary evolution of its quantum state can be programmed with a series of microwave pulses, and a projective measurement of the state can be performed by a pulsed readout subcircuit. The measured quality factor of quantum coherence Qphi approximately 25,000 is sufficiently high that a solid-state quantum processor based on this type of circuit can be envisioned.     

A superconducting reversible rectifier that controls the motion of magnetic flux quanta

We fabricated a device that controls the motion of flux quanta in a niobium superconducting film grown on an array of nanoscale triangular pinning potentials. The controllable rectification of the vortex motion is due to the asymmetry of the fabricated magnetic pinning centers. The reversal in the direction of the vortex flow is explained by the interaction between the vortices trapped on the magnetic nanostructures and the interstitial vortices. The applied magnetic field and input current strength can tune both the polarity and magnitude of the rectified vortex flow. Our ratchet system is explained and modeled theoretically, taking the interactions between particles into consideration.     

Two-dimensional Mott-Hubbard electrons in an artificial honeycomb lattice

Artificial crystal lattices can be used to tune repulsive Coulomb interactions between electrons. We trapped electrons, confined as a two-dimensional gas in a gallium arsenide quantum well, in a nanofabricated lattice with honeycomb geometry. We probed the excitation spectrum in a magnetic field, identifying collective modes that emerged from the Coulomb interaction in the artificial lattice, as predicted by the Mott-Hubbard model. These observations allow us to determine the Hubbard gap and suggest the existence of a Coulomb-driven ground state.     

Solid-state qubits with current-controlled coupling

The ability to switch the coupling between quantum bits (qubits) on and off is essential for implementing many quantum-computing algorithms. We demonstrated such control with two flux qubits coupled together through their mutual inductances and through the dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) that reads out their magnetic flux states. A bias current applied to the SQUID in the zero-voltage state induced a change in the dynamic inductance, reducing the coupling energy controllably to zero and reversing its sign.     

Coupled superconducting and magnetic order in CeCoIn5

Strong magnetic fluctuations can provide a coupling mechanism for electrons that leads to unconventional superconductivity. Magnetic order and superconductivity have been found to coexist in a number of magnetically mediated superconductors, but these order parameters generally compete. We report that close to the upper critical field, CeCoIn5 adopts a multicomponent ground state that simultaneously carries cooperating magnetic and superconducting orders. Suppressing superconductivity in a first-order transition at the upper critical field leads to the simultaneous collapse of the magnetic order, showing that superconductivity is necessary for the magnetic order. A symmetry analysis of the coupling between the magnetic order and the superconducting gap function suggests a form of superconductivity that is associated with a nonvanishing momentum.     

Femtotesla magnetic field measurement with magnetoresistive sensors

The measurement of magnetic fields in the femtotesla (fT, 10(-15) tesla) range is important for applications such as magnetometry, quantum computing, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, and magnetoencephalography. The only sensors capable of detecting these very small fields have been based on low-temperature superconducting quantum interference devices operating at 4.2 kelvin. We present a magnetic field sensor that combines a superconducting flux-to-field transformer with a low-noise giant magnetoresistive sensor. The sensor can be operated up to 77 kelvin. Our small-size prototype provides the capability of measuring 32 fT.     

Macroscopic quantum effects in nanometer-scale magnets

Quantum tunneling, the passage of a microscopic system from one state to another by way of a classically forbidden path, is theoretically possible in the macroscopic world. One can now make direct observations of such macroscopic quantum tunneling in very small magnetic structures. This is possible because of significant advances both in the ability to obtain magnetic systems of almost any desirable size, shape, and composition and in the development of superconducting instrumentation for the detection of extremely weak magnetic signals. As an example, measurements on magnetic horse spleen ferritin proteins with the predictions of quantum tunneling theory are discussed and shown.     

Suppressing spin qubit dephasing by nuclear state preparation

Coherent spin states in semiconductor quantum dots offer promise as electrically controllable quantum bits (qubits) with scalable fabrication. For few-electron quantum dots made from gallium arsenide (GaAs), fluctuating nuclear spins in the host lattice are the dominant source of spin decoherence. We report a method of preparing the nuclear spin environment that suppresses the relevant component of nuclear spin fluctuations below its equilibrium value by a factor of approximately 70, extending the inhomogeneous dephasing time for the two-electron spin state beyond 1 microsecond. The nuclear state can be readily prepared by electrical gate manipulation and persists for more than 10 seconds.     

Direct observation of nodes and twofold symmetry in FeSe superconductor

We investigated the electron-pairing mechanism in an iron-based superconductor, iron selenide (FeSe), using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Tunneling conductance spectra of stoichiometric FeSe crystalline films in their superconducting state revealed evidence for a gap function with nodal lines. Electron pairing with twofold symmetry was demonstrated by direct imaging of quasiparticle excitations in the vicinity of magnetic vortex cores, Fe adatoms, and Se vacancies. The twofold pairing symmetry was further supported by the observation of striped electronic nanostructures in the slightly Se-doped samples. The anisotropy can be explained in terms of the orbital-dependent reconstruction of electronic structure in FeSe.     

The Resonating Valence Bond State in La2CuO4 and Superconductivity

The oxide superconductors, particularly those recently discovered that are based on La(2)CuO(4), have a set of peculiarities that suggest a common, unique mechanism: they tend in every case to occur near a metal-insulator transition into an odd-electron insulator with peculiar magnetic properties. This insulating phase is proposed to be the long-sought "resonating-valence-bond" state or "quantum spin liquid" hypothesized in 1973. This insulating magnetic phase is favored by low spin, low dimensionality, and magnetic frustration. The preexisting magnetic singlet pairs of the insulating state become charged superconducting pairs when the insulator is doped sufficiently strongly. The mechanism for superconductivity is hence predominantly electronic and magnetic, although weak phonon interactions may favor the state. Many unusual properties are predicted, especially of the insulating state.     

Microwave-induced cooling of a superconducting qubit

We demonstrated microwave-induced cooling in a superconducting flux qubit. The thermal population in the first-excited state of the qubit is driven to a higher-excited state by way of a sideband transition. Subsequent relaxation into the ground state results in cooling. Effective temperatures as low as approximately 3 millikelvin are achieved for bath temperatures of 30 to 400 millikelvin, a cooling factor between 10 and 100. This demonstration provides an analog to optical cooling of trapped ions and atoms and is generalizable to other solid-state quantum systems. Active cooling of qubits, applied to quantum information science, provides a means for qubit-state preparation with improved fidelity and for suppressing decoherence in multi-qubit systems.     

Nearly singular magnetic fluctuations in the normal state of a high-Tc cuprate superconductor

Polarized and unpolarized neutron scattering was used to measure the wave vector- and frequency-dependent magnetic fluctuations in the normal state (from the superconducting transition temperature, Tc = 35 kelvin, up to 350 kelvin) of single crystals of La1.86Sr0.14CuO4. The peaks that dominate the fluctuations have amplitudes that decrease as T-2 and widths that increase in proportion to the thermal energy, kBT (where kB is Boltzmann's constant), and energy transfer added in quadrature. The nearly singular fluctuations are consistent with a nearby quantum critical point.     

Strong dissipation inhibits losses and induces correlations in cold molecular gases

Atomic quantum gases in the strong-correlation regime offer unique possibilities to explore a variety of many-body quantum phenomena. Reaching this regime has usually required both strong elastic and weak inelastic interactions because the latter produce losses. We show that strong inelastic collisions can actually inhibit particle losses and drive a system into a strongly correlated regime. Studying the dynamics of ultracold molecules in an optical lattice confined to one dimension, we show that the particle loss rate is reduced by a factor of 10. Adding a lattice along the one dimension increases the reduction to a factor of 2000. Our results open the possibility to observe exotic quantum many-body phenomena with systems that suffer from strong inelastic collisions.