Том 105, № 8 (2017)

We investigate charge transport through the junction between a niobium superconductor and the edge of a two-dimensional electron-hole bilayer, realized in an InAs/GaSb double quantum well. For the transparent interface with a superconductor, we demonstrate that the junction resistance is determined by the interlayer charge transfer near the interface. From an analysis of experimental I−V curves, we conclude that the proximity-induced superconductivity efficiently couples electron and hole layers at low currents. The critical current demonstrates periodic dependence on the in-plane magnetic field, while it is monotonic for the field that is normal to the bilayer plane.

We study the effect of the Fermi surface anisotropy (hexagonal warping) on the superconducting pair potential, induced in a three-dimensional topological insulator (TI) by proximity with an s-wave superconductor (S) in presence of a magnetic moment of a nearby ferromagnetic insulator (FI). In the previous studies, similar problem was treated with a simplified Hamiltonian, describing an isotropic Dirac cone dispersion. This approximation is only valid near the Dirac point. However, in topological insulators, the chemical potential often lies well above this point, where the Dirac cone is strongly anisotropic and its constant energy contour has a snowflake shape. Taking into account this shape, we show that a very exotic pair potential is induced on the topological insulator surface. Based on the symmetry arguments we also discuss the possibility of a supercurrent flowing along the S/FI interface, when an S/FI hybrid structure is formed on the TI surface.

Ice 0 that is a new modification of crystalline ice, which can be formed only from supercooled water, is sought. To this end, the electric parameters of wetted nanoporous silicates SBA-15 and silica gel (Acros) for obtaining deeply supercooled water in pores are studied. Three electrical parameters of a medium are measured: the reflection coefficient of microwave radiation from the interface between the medium and air in a waveguide at a frequency of 12.4 GHz and the transmittance of radiation at a frequency of 94 GHz, the tangent of the dielectric loss angle at frequencies from 10 Hz to 100 kHz, and the characteristic electrical fluctuations in the frequency band of 1–100 Hz. Studies are performed at cyclic cooling and heating of the samples in the temperature range from + 20 °C to -150 °C. Sharp changes in all three parameters of the wetted silicates are revealed near the temperature range from -20 °C to - 24 °C. These changes can be attributed to the formation or destruction of ferroelectric ice 0.

A change in the time dependence of the second moment of the distribution of intensities of coherences with various orders in the spectrum of multiple-quantum NMR in a solid at the inclusion of an inhomogeneous magnetic field in the effective interaction is studied. Both the secular dipole–dipole and nonspecular twoquantum interactions are considered as nucleus–nucleus interactions, which correspond to traditional experimental realizations. It is shown that, with an increase in the magnitude of the inhomogeneous field, an exponential increase in the second moment of multiple-quantum NMR with time changes to a power-law increase. The results obtained in this work indicate that this second moment, which determines the average number of dynamically correlated spins, can be used as a convenient characteristic for studying a transition to a many-body localized state.

The type-II Weyl and type-II Dirac points emerge in semimetals and in relativistic systems. In particular, the type-II Weyl fermions may emerge behind the event horizon of black holes. The type-II Weyl and Dirac points also emerge as the intermediate states of the topological Lifshitz transitions. In one case, the type-II Weyl point connects the Fermi pockets, and the Lifshitz transition corresponds to the transfer of the Berry flux between the Fermi pockets. In the other case, the type-II Weyl point connects the outer and inner Fermi surfaces. At the Lifshitz transition, the Weyl point is released from both Fermi surfaces. They loose their Berry flux, which guarantees the global stability, and without the topological support, the inner surface disappears after shrinking to a point at the second Lifshitz transition. These examples reveal the complexity and universality of topological Lifshitz transitions, which originate from the ubiquitous interplay of a variety of topological characters of the momentum-space manifolds.

The dynamics of runaway electrons in a gas diode in a sharply nonuniform electric field determined by the geometry of electrodes is considered. The analytical solution of the equation of motion of electrons for an edge cathode shows that their runaway at the periphery in the region of weak field is possible only if the applied potential difference exceeds a certain threshold determined by the interelectrode distance and the parameters of the gas. This condition supplements a classical runaway condition that the field strength at the emission edge of the cathode should be higher than a threshold value depending only on the parameters of the gas. According to our estimates, this new condition imposes higher requirements than the classical condition on the field strength in the limit of the strongly sharp edge of the cathode.