Volume 241, Issue5 (April 2004)
Articles in the Current Issue:
Cover Picture
Horizontal line nodes in superconducting Sr2RuO4
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Litak, G.; Annett, J. F.; Györffy, B. L.; Wysokiski, K. I.
2004-04-01
Superconductivity in Sr2RuO4 is one of the most interesting phenomena in current condensed matter physics, since it is revealed to be a triplet-pairing state. Our Editor's Choice [1] considers an important problem related to the type of order parameter in this material.The position of line nodes on the Fermi surface, as evident from recent measurements, has been determined for various scenarios shown in the cover picture. Using these models, the temperature dependence of heat capacity and penetration depth has been calculated for easy comparison with experiments.The first author, Grzegorz Litak, is assistant professor at Technical University of Lublin and visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Dresden. He is working on the effect of disorder on correlated and exotic superconductors, nonlinear dynamics, and superconductivity in strontium ruthenate.
Instrument Performance of GISMO, a 2 Millimeter TES Bolometer Camera used at the IRAM 30 m Telescope
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Staguhn, Johannes
2008-01-01
In November of 2007 we demonstrated a monolithic Backshort-Under-Grid (BUG) 8x16 array in the field using our 2 mm wavelength imager GISMO (Goddard IRAM Superconducting 2 Millimeter Observer) at the IRAM 30 m telescope in Spain for astronomical observations. The 2 mm spectral range provides a unique terrestrial window enabling ground-based observations of the earliest active dusty galaxies in the universe and thereby allowing a better constraint on the star formation rate in these objects. The optical design incorporates a 100 mm diameter silicon lens cooled to 4 K, which provides the required fast beam yielding 0.9 lambda/D pixels. With this spatial sampling, GISMO will be very efficient at detecting sources serendipitously in large sky surveys, while the capability for diffraction limited imaging is preserved. The camera provides significantly greater detection sensitivity and mapping speed at this wavelength than has previously been possible. The instrument will fill in the spectral energy distribution of high redshift galaxies at the Rayleigh-Jeans part of the dust emission spectrum, even at the highest redshifts. Here1 will we present early results from our observing run with the first fielded BUG bolometer array. We have developed key technologies to enable highly versatile, kilopixel, infrared through millimeter wavelength bolometer arrays. The Backshort-Under-Grid (BUG) array consists of three components: 1) a transition-edge-sensor (TES) based bolometer array with background-limited sensitivity and high filling factor, 2) a quarter-wave reflective backshort grid providing high optical efficiency, and 3) a superconducting bump-bonded large format Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) multiplexer readout. The array is described in more detail elsewhere (Allen et al., this conference). In November of 2007 we demonstrated a monolithic 8x 16 array with 2 mm-pitch detectors in the field using our 2 mm wavelength imager GISMO (Goddard IRAM Superconducting 2 Millimeter Observer) at the IRAM 30 m telescope in Spain for astronomical observations. The 2 mm spectral range provides a unique terrestrial window enabling ground-based observations of the earliest active dusty galaxies in the universe and thereby allowing a better constraint on the star formation rate in these objects. The optical design incorporates a 100 mm diameter silicon lens cooled to 4 K, which provides the required fast beam yielding 0.9 lambda1D pixels. With this spatial sampling, GISMO will be very efficient at detecting sources serendipitously in large sky surveys, while the capability for diffraction limited imaging is preserved. The camera provides significantly greater detection sensitivity and mapping speed at this wavelength than has previously been possible. The instrument will fill in the spectral energy distribution of high redshift galaxies at the Rayleigh-Jeans part of the dust emission spectrum, even at the highest redshifts. Here I will we present early results from our observing run with the first fielded BUG bolometer array.
Physical implementation of protected qubits
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Douçot, B.; Ioffe, L. B.
2012-07-01
We review the general notion of topological protection of quantum states in spin models and its relation with the ideas of quantum error correction. We show that topological protection can be viewed as a Hamiltonian realization of error correction: for a quantum code for which the minimal number of errors that remain undetected is N, the corresponding Hamiltonian model of the effects of the environment noise appears only in the Nth order of the perturbation theory. We discuss the simplest model Hamiltonians that realize topological protection and their implementation in superconducting arrays. We focus on two dual realizations: in one the protected state is stored in the parity of the Cooper pair number, in the other, in the parity of the flux number. In both cases the superconducting arrays allow a number of fault-tolerant operations that should make the universal quantum computation possible.
Phonon-mediated superconducting transition-edge sensor X-ray detectors for use in astronomy
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Leman, Steven W.; Martinez-Galarce, Dennis S.; Brink, Paul L.; Cabrera, Blas; Castle, Joseph P.; Morse, Kathleen; Stern, Robert A.; Tomada, Astrid
2004-09-01
Superconducting Transition-Edge Sensors (TESs) are generating a great deal of interest in the areas of x-ray astrophysics and space science, particularly to develop them as large-array, imaging x-ray spectrometers. We are developing a novel concept that is based on position-sensitive macro-pixels placing TESs on the backside of a silicon or germanium absorber. Each x-ray absorbed will be position (X/δX and Y/δY ~ 100) and energy (E/δE ~ 1000) resolved via four distributed TES readouts. In the future, combining such macropixels with advances in multiplexing could lead to 30 by 30 arrays of close-packed macro-pixels equivalent to imaging instruments of 10 megapixels or more. We report on our progress to date and discuss its application to a plausible solar satellite mission and plans for future development.
