Condensed Matter Seminar

Andrey Rogachev
University of Utah

Tuesday, October 7, 2008; 4:00 pm in JFB 334

Superconductor-Insulator transition in one-dimensional nanowires: current status, open question and perspective

Intensive experimental development in the field of one-dimensional superconductivity over the last decade resulted in a puzzling picture. On one hand a number of experiments have reported detection of quantum phase slips (QPS) in superconducting state and crossover-like transition into insulating state. On the other hand in experiments on short wires no such behavior has been detected and the system reveals sharp superconductor insulator transition. In the talk I will describe current status of the field, and a possible resolution of the controversy as based on current theoretical development or artifacts of experiments. The current status of the laboratory, development of the noise measurement technique, experiments aimed to resolve the QPS problem and puzzling nature of the insulating state in nanowires will also be reviewed.