Theory of the pairbreaking superconductor-metal transition in nanowires
- Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
We present a detailed description of a zero temperature phase transition between superconducting and diffusive metallic states in very thin wires due to a Cooper pair breaking mechanism. The dissipative critical theory contains current reducing fluctuations in the guise of both quantum and thermally activated phase slips. A full cross-over phase diagram is computed via an expansion in the inverse number of complex components of the superconducting order parameter (one in the physical case). The fluctuation corrections to the electrical ({sigma}) and thermal ({kappa}) conductivities are determined, and we find that {sigma} has a non-monotonic temperature dependence in the metallic phase which may be consistent with recent experimental results on ultra-narrow wires. In the quantum critical regime, the ratio of the thermal to electrical conductivity displays a linear temperature dependence and thus the Wiedemann-Franz law is obeyed, with a new universal experimentally verifiable Lorenz number.
- OSTI ID:
- 21167720
- Journal Information:
- Annals of Physics (New York), Vol. 324, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.aop.2008.08.003; PII: S0003-4916(08)00121-8; Copyright (c) 2008 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-4916
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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