Switching Current Distributions of Superconducting Nanowires: Evidence of Quantum Phase Slip Events (original) (raw)
Phase slips are topological fluctuation events that carry the superconducting order-parameter field between distinct current carrying states. Owing to these phase slips low-dimensional superconductors acquire electrical resistance. In quasi-one-dimensional nanowires it is well known that at higher temperatures phase slips occur via the process of thermal barriercrossing by the order-parameter field. At low temperatures, the general expectation is that phase slips should proceed via quantum tunneling events, which are known as quantum phase slips (QPS). However, experimental observation of QPS is a subject of strong debate and no consensus has been reached so far about the conditions under which QPS occurs. In this study, strong evidence for individual quantum tunneling events undergone by the superconducting order-parameter field in homogeneous nanowires is reported. This is accomplished via measurements of the distribution of switching currents–the high-bias currents at which super...
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