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We demonstrate an efficient numerical method for obtaining unique solutions to the Eilenberger equation for a mesoscopic or nanoscale superconductor. In particular, we calculate the local density of states of a circular d- wave island containing a single vortex. The “vortex shadow” effect is found to depend strongly on the quasiparticle energy in such small systems. We show how to construct by geometry quasiparticle trajectories confined in a finite-size system with specular reflections at the boundary, and we discuss the stability of the numerical solutions even in the case of vanishing order parameter as for nodal quasiparticles in a rf-wave superconductor or for quasiparticles passing through the vortex center with zero energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We measured the temperature dependence of the in-plane polarized reflectivity spectra of twin-free Y1-xCaxBa2Cu3O7-δ single crystals with different Ca concentrations (x = 0, 0.11 and 0.16) from the optimally doped to heavily overdoped region. Low-energy optical conductivity spectra showed a Drude-like residual conductivity at temperatures far below the superconducting transition temperature, which indicates the presence of unpaired-normal carriers in the superconducting state. Comparing the spectra at a fixed Ca content or at a fixed doping level, we have revealed that the carrier overdoping increases unpaired carriers in addition to those induced by the Ca disorder. We also found the superconducting behavior of the one-dimensional CuO chains lot the Ca-free samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform self-consistent studies of two-dimensional (2D) s-wave topological superconductivity (TSC) with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman field by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. In particular, we examine the effects of a nonmagnetic impurity in detail and show that the nature of the spin-polarized midgap bound state varies significantly depending on the material parameters. Most notably, a nonmagnetic impurity in a 2D s-wave topological superconductor can act like a magnetic impurity in a conventional s-wave superconductor, leading to phase transitions of the ground state as the impurity potential is varied. Furthermore, by solving for the spin-dependent Hartree potential self-consistently along with the superconducting order parameter, we demonstrate that topological charge density waves can coexist with TSC at half filling just as in a conventional s-wave superconductor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the vortex lattice in a two-dimensional s-wave topological superconductor with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman field by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations self-consistently for the superconducting order parameter. We find that when spin-orbit coupling is relatively weak, one of the two underlying chiralities in the topological superconducting state can be strongly manifest in the vortex core structure and govern the response of the system to vorticity and a nonmagnetic impurity where the vortex is pinned. The Majorana zero mode in the vortex core is found to be robust against the nonmagnetic impurity in that it remains effectively a zero-energy bound state regardless of the impurity potential strength and the major chirality. The spin polarization of the Majorana bound state depends on the major chirality for weak spin-orbit coupling, while it is determined simply by the vorticity when spin-orbit coupling is relatively strong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a novel type of ordering phenomenon associated with the incommensurate occupational modulation of bistable molecular magnetic state in a spin-crossover material. This unusual type of aperiodicity resulting from the ordering of multistable electronic states opens new possibilities for addressing such materials by light. Here we show that light can switch the crystal from four- to three-dimensional periodic structure. Mixing aperiodicity, multistability, and photoinduced phenomenà opens new perspectives for directing complex order and function in material science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A search for isomeric γ decays among fission fragments from 345 MeV/nucleon 238U has been performed at the RIKEN Nishina Center RI Beam Factory. Fission fragments were selected and identified using the superconducting in-flight separator BigRIPS and were implanted in an aluminum stopper. Delayed γ rays were detected using three clover-type high-purity germanium detectors located at the focal plane within a time window of 20 ps following the implantation. We identified a total of 54 microsecond isomers with half-lives of ~0.1--10 μ, including the discovery of 18 new isomers in very neutron-rich nuclei: 59Tim, 90Asm, 92Sem, 93Sem 94Brm 95Brm 96Brm 97Rbm 108Nbm 109Mom 117Rum 119Rum 120Rhm, 122Rhm, 121Pdm, 124Pdm 124Agm, and 126Agm, and obtained a wealth of spectroscopic information such as half-lives, γ-ray energies, γ-ray relative intensities, and γγ coincidences over a wide range of neutron-rich exotic nuclei. Proposed level schemes are presented for 59Tim, 82Gam, 92Brm, 94Brm, 95Brm, 97Rbm, 98Rbm, 108Nbm 108Zrm, 109Mom 117Rum, 119Rum, 120Rhm, 122Rhm 121Pdm 124Agm, and 125Agm, based on the obtained spectroscopic information and the systematics in neighboring nuclei. The nature of the nuclear isomerism is discussed in relation to the evolution of nuclear structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We experimentally demonstrate Cooper pairs' drastic enhancement of the band-to-band radiative recombination rate in a semiconductor. Electron Cooper pairs injected from a superconducting electrode into an active layer by the proximity effect recombine with holes injected from a p-type electrode. The recombination of a Cooper pair with p-type carriers dramatically increases the photon generation probability of a light-emitting diode in the optical-fiber communication band. The measured radiative decay time rapidly decreases with decreasing temperature below the superconducting transition temperature of the niobium electrodes. Our results indicate the possibility to open up new interdisciplinary fields between superconductivity and optoelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]