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Retrapping current, self-heating, and hysteretic current-voltage characteristics in ultranarrow superconducting aluminum nanowires

Publication ,  Journal Article
Li, P; Wu, PM; Bomze, Y; Borzenets, IV; Finkelstein, G; Chang, AM
Published in: Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
November 8, 2011

Hysteretic I-V (current-voltage) curves are studied in narrow Al nanowires. The nanowires have a cross section as small as 50 nm2. We focus on the retrapping current in a down-sweep of the current, at which a nanowire re-enters the superconducting state from a normal state. The retrapping current is found to be significantly smaller than the switching current at which the nanowire switches into the normal state from a superconducting state during a current up-sweep. For wires of different lengths, we analyze the heat removal due to various processes, including electron and phonon processes. For a short wire 1.5μm in length, electronic thermal conduction is effective; for longer wires 10μm in length, phonon conduction becomes important. We demonstrate that the measured retrapping current as a function of temperature can be quantitatively accounted for by the self-heating occurring in the normal portions of the nanowires to better than 20% accuracy. For the phonon processes, the extracted thermal conduction parameters support the notion of a reduced phase-space below three dimensions, consistent with the phonon thermal wavelength having exceeded the lateral dimensions at temperatures below ∼1.3 K. Nevertheless, surprisingly the best fit was achieved with a functional form corresponding to three-dimensional phonons, albeit requiring parameters far exceeding known values in the literature. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI

EISSN

1550-235X

ISSN

1098-0121

Publication Date

November 8, 2011

Volume

84

Issue

18

Related Subject Headings

  • Fluids & Plasmas
  • 09 Engineering
  • 03 Chemical Sciences
  • 02 Physical Sciences
 

Citation

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Li, P., Wu, P. M., Bomze, Y., Borzenets, I. V., Finkelstein, G., & Chang, A. M. (2011). Retrapping current, self-heating, and hysteretic current-voltage characteristics in ultranarrow superconducting aluminum nanowires. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 84(18). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.84.184508
Li, P., P. M. Wu, Y. Bomze, I. V. Borzenets, G. Finkelstein, and A. M. Chang. “Retrapping current, self-heating, and hysteretic current-voltage characteristics in ultranarrow superconducting aluminum nanowires.” Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics 84, no. 18 (November 8, 2011). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.84.184508.
Li P, Wu PM, Bomze Y, Borzenets IV, Finkelstein G, Chang AM. Retrapping current, self-heating, and hysteretic current-voltage characteristics in ultranarrow superconducting aluminum nanowires. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. 2011 Nov 8;84(18).
Li, P., et al. “Retrapping current, self-heating, and hysteretic current-voltage characteristics in ultranarrow superconducting aluminum nanowires.” Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, vol. 84, no. 18, Nov. 2011. Scopus, doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.84.184508.
Li P, Wu PM, Bomze Y, Borzenets IV, Finkelstein G, Chang AM. Retrapping current, self-heating, and hysteretic current-voltage characteristics in ultranarrow superconducting aluminum nanowires. Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. 2011 Nov 8;84(18).

Published In

Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI

EISSN

1550-235X

ISSN

1098-0121

Publication Date

November 8, 2011

Volume

84

Issue

18

Related Subject Headings

  • Fluids & Plasmas
  • 09 Engineering
  • 03 Chemical Sciences
  • 02 Physical Sciences