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# Search for pairing-vibration states of even Ca isotopes in 40Ca+208Pb transfer reactions

## I Introduction

In the nuclear medium, the ability of nucleons to form 0+ pairs has been realized very early from the study of nuclear masses, but the recognition that these pairs of nucleons play an important role in the description of nuclear spectra, in particular in correlating spectra of neighbouring nuclei, is more recent . The development of the pair model received considerable inputs from the extensive experimental work on transfer with light ions, in particular $`(p,t)`$ and $`(t,p)`$ reactions . The use of heavy-ions was perceived  as a very promising tool for the study of pair rotation and/or pair vibration degrees of freedom since one could envisage the exchange of many nucleons among the reactants. Unfortunately, the lack of sufficient mass, charge and energy resolution postponed the experimental studies to recent times, when high resolution spectrometers became available and the clear identification of transfer products up to at least four neutron pick-up and four proton stripping has been achieved . In these measurements, attempts to identify pair transfer modes were based on total or differential cross sections, but no unambiguous contribution of these degrees of freedom could be drawn.

Systematic studies of $`(p,t)`$ and $`(t,p)`$ reactions led to the identification of the calcium region as the only known region where the cross sections for the population of the excited 0+ states is larger than the ground state. Those states have been recognised as multi (addition and removal) pair-phonon states . Nuclear structure and reaction dynamics studies attribute this behavior to the influence of the $`p_{3/2}`$ orbital that gives a much larger contribution to the two-nucleon transfer cross section than the $`f_{7/2}`$ orbital, which dominates the ground state wave function.

In the present work we report on a study of multi-nucleon transfers in 40Ca+208Pb. Since both nuclei are recognised as pair vibrational, they provide an ideal tool to study multi pair-phonon excitations by looking at $`Q`$-value distributions for the different isotopes. Since this system is closed shell, both in proton and neutron, it provides also an excellent opportunity for a quantitative comparison with a theoretical model whose results depend strongly on the form factors defining the transfer process .

## II Results and discussion

The experiment was performed using the Tandem + ALPI accelerator of the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro. A 40Ca beam was accelerated onto a 208Pb target (200 $`\mu `$g/cm2) at several bombarding energies close to the Coulomb barrier: $`E_{\mathrm{lab}}`$= 250, 236 and 225 MeV. Light reaction products were detected with the spectrometer PISOLO , that makes use of two micro-channel plate detectors for time-of-flight signals and a $`\mathrm{\Delta }E/E`$ ionization chamber for nuclear charge and energy determination. The good mass and charge resolution of $`\mathrm{\Delta }A/A1/120`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }Z/Z1/60`$, respectively, allowed a clear separation between different channels. Taking into account the intrinsic energy resolution of the detector and the energy straggling in the target the obtained energy resolution was $``$ 2 MeV. With a total solid angle of $``$ 3 msr, transfer cross sections up to the pick-up of seven neutrons and the stripping of seven protons have been extracted. In the present paper we focus on pure neutron transfer channels.

The comparison of the data is done with the Complex-WKB model  that calculates the outcome of the reaction, namely total kinetic energy loss, differential and total cross sections, taking into account the transfer of single nucleons by using the well known one-particle transfer form factors. This model solves in an approximate way the system of coupled equations which determine the exchange of particles between the nuclei by treating the particle transfer degrees of freedom as independent and in the harmonic approximation.

The experimental total cross sections and the angular distributions at $`E_{\mathrm{lab}}=`$ 236 MeV are shown in Fig. 1 together with the theoretical predictions. In order to cover the full range of transferred energies, the single-particle form factors governing the exchange of nucleons were calculated by including all single-particle levels above the Fermi surface and a full shell below. Those levels are shown in Fig. 2 for neutrons. For the real part of the optical potential we used the empirical potential of Ref. . For the imaginary part the model uses only a volume term with a small diffusivity (a $``$ 0.4 fm) since the depopulation of the entrance channel is taken explicitly into account by the coupling to the transfer channels. This potential gives an adequate estimation of the total reaction cross section as can be inferred from the good description of the quasi-elastic angular distribution.

The bell shaped distributions of the differential cross sections show the grazing character of the reaction. The integrated cross sections decrease smoothly as a function of the number of transferred neutrons, and the overall trend of the data is reproduced by calculations. We notice that the total cross section for the even calcium isotopes is in agreement with a Poisson distribution, with an average number of transferred neutrons $`n=`$ 1.1, that underlines the harmonic character of the degrees of freedom determining the evolution of the reaction. However from the observed behavior of the inclusive total cross sections alone, as was clear from previous experiments, it is difficult to draw unambiguous conclusions on the role played by a pair transfer mode. As we will discuss below, the excitation functions, corroborated from the knowledge of the excitation spectra and from the results of reaction and shell model calculations, provide valuable information in this respect.

For the bombarding energy of 236 MeV we show in Fig. 3 the total kinetic energy loss (TKEL) distributions measured at the scattering angle of $`\theta _{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}=95^{}`$ for channels up to +4n in comparison with the theoretical prediction calculated for a partial wave close to the grazing one. In the figure we indicate with an arrow the ground to ground state $`Q`$-value. As can be appreciated, the multi-nucleon transfer channels (we recall that the optimum $`Q`$-value for all neutron transfer channels is close to 0) display a well defined maximum that is shifted to high energy losses, leaving the ground states unpopulated.

The calculation gives an overall good description of the experimental spectra underestimating the high energy tails especially for the massive transfer channels. The discrepancy may be partially overcome by better treatment of small impact parameters i.e. deeper penetrating trajectories, that gradually become more important as more particles are transferred. The theory calculates the redistribution of mass and charge by using an independent particle description thus the calculated spectra reflect the underlying single particle level structure. By looking at the final population of the single particle levels we can infer that the maxima for the +2n and +4n channels are essentially due to two and four neutrons in the $`p_{3/2}`$ orbital. This fact together with the known low energy spectra of 42,44Ca  suggest that these maxima correspond to the excited $`0^+`$ states that were identified with the pair mode . Using 48Ca as the ground state of the pair vibrational model these states are interpreted as the mode $`(4,1)`$ in 42Ca and $`(4,2)`$ in 44Ca where the first number in parentheses refers to the pair-removal $`(n_r)`$ and the second to the pair addition $`(n_a)`$ mode. We recall that the pair vibrational model assigns the energies with the formula $`E(n_r,n_a)=\mathrm{}\omega _p(n_r+n_a)`$, $`\omega _p`$ being the pair frequency. In the case of calcium $`\mathrm{}\omega _p`$ is $``$ 3 MeV. To strengthen this assignment, for the +2n channel we show in Fig. 4 the spectra taken at the three bombarding energies; here arrows label the position of the 0+ states.

The indicated maxima of the spectra are compatible with the excitation of $`0^+`$ states in 42Ca at $``$ 6 MeV, leaving room for the mutual excitation of the yrast states in 206Pb . We notice here that the spectra widen with the increase of the bombarding energy with a slight shift of the maxima reflecting the energy dependence of the optimum $`Q`$-value. Both features are well reproduced by the theoretical calculations indicating that the used single particle levels cover the full $`Q`$-value ranges spanned by the reaction.

Since the illustrated experimental results and reaction calculations point to a selective feeding of $`0^+`$ states dominated by a pair of neutrons in the $`p_{3/2}`$ orbital we felt that it would be interesting to calculate, for 42Ca, the strength distribution of these peculiar $`0^+`$ states over all others $`0^+`$ states. This has been performed in the framework of large scale shell model (SM) calculations by using the same model space and interaction as in a recent publication concerning various spectroscopic features of calcium isotopes . To extract the channel strength function we used the Lanczos method by using as pivot state $`\psi _1=(a_{p_{3/2}}^+a_{p_{3/2}}^+)^0|0^+`$ that corresponds to the creation of two neutrons, coupled to 0, on the $`|0^+`$ ground state of 40Ca. The valence space, used in these SM calculations consists of a 28Si inert core and of the 2$`s_{1/2}`$, 1$`d_{3/2}`$, 1$`f_{7/2}`$ and 2$`p_{3/2}`$ subshells for both protons and neutrons. The ground state of 40Ca is thus described by a $`(npnh)`$ configuration with $`n`$ up to 12. Through the Lanczos iterative procedure, and using the overlap relation between the obtained eigenstates of the SM Hamiltonian and the pivot state $`\psi _1`$, we can calculate  the strength function for these peculiar $`0^+`$ states. The strength distribution $`S(E)`$, shown in the lower panel of Fig. 4, displays, clearly, a strong concentration near $`6`$ MeV of excitation energy, an energy very close to that of a configuration where a $`p_{3/2}`$ neutron pair is coupled to a closed shell of 40Ca ground state ($`E5.9`$ MeV). This calculation demonstrates the dominant contribution of the $`p_{3/2}`$ orbitals and the predicted very narrow energy distribution suggests its interpretation as a pair mode.

## III Summary

Multi-neutron transfer reactions, at several bombarding energies, have been studied in 40Ca+208Pb. Due to the peculiar properties of the $`f`$-$`p`$ shell, this system allows us to interpret the total kinetic energy spectra as being dominated by the excitation of pair modes in even calcium isotopes. The population of these channels is in agreement with the harmonic properties of these modes. This experiment demonstrates the importance of pursuing these studies with heavy ions even if, within the present energy resolution, a definite assignment of these states is not possible. The large measured cross sections would allow the interesting study of the decaying pattern of these pair modes.


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# Rf-induced transport of Cooper pairs in superconducting single electron transistors in a dissipative environment

## I Introduction

During the last few years, the ultrasmall Josephson junctions have aroused the interest of researchers as convenient objects for experimental investigations of macroscopic quantum effects. A variety of their unique features formed the basis for possible applications in quantum information processing (see, e.g., review makhlin  and references therein), Cooper pair electrometry Zorin-prl1 , and metrology (accurate current sources on the basis of Cooper pair pumps Geerligs ).

The Cooper pair dynamics in such junctions appears as a result of the competition between Coulomb and Josephson effects (see, e.g., LiZo ), and it is strongly affected by interaction with the electrodynamic environment (for the review, see IngNaz ). In particular, the Cooper-pair transport is very sensitive to dissipative properties of the environment. Quantitatively, these properties are characterized by the real part of the frequency-dependent impedance of the environment Re$`Z(\omega )`$.

In the low-impedance case, $`\left|Z(\omega )\right|R_\text{Q}`$, where $`R_\text{Q}h/4e^26.45`$k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the resistance quantum, the tunneling of Cooper pairs is elastic and occurs at zero bias voltage as a coherent process. The resulting net current presents the supercurrent as in the ”classical” Josephson junction Likh , because the Josephson phase across the junction is well defined. In most of the experimental systems, small but finite dissipation of the measuring circuitry $`\left|Z(\omega )\right|R_\text{Q}`$ causes phase fluctuations which transform the zero voltage supercurrent into a supercurrent peak of finite width located at small voltages (see Ref. Stein  and the references therein). In contrast to the former two cases, tunneling of pairs in the junction embedded in a rather dissipative environment, $`\text{Re}Z(\omega )R_\text{Q}`$, is related to an extensive energy exchange with the environment. Tunneling of pairs in this case occurs incoherently and can be considered in terms of individual events. The first observation of dissipative tunneling of single Cooper pairs was reported by Kuzmin $`etal`$. Kuzmin  for a simple system of a small single junction connected in series to a compact high-ohmic resistor.

Several different transport mechanisms were reported for a two-junction superconducting device (single electron transistor, SET) supplied by the high-ohmic resistor (see Fig. 1). One of the mechanisms - sequential tunneling of pairs (ST) through either junction - was studied theoretically by Wilhelm $`etal`$. Wilhelm , and experimentally by Kycia $`etal`$. Kycia  and by Lu $`etal`$. Lu . These experiments were performed in an Al SET positioned on top of a two-dimensional electron gas with locally tunable dissipation (ground plane conductance). Another mechanism based on a higher-order process of simultaneous tunneling of pairs in both junctions - i.e., the cotunneling of pairs (CT) - was recently studied in detail Lotk-prl2003 . Moreover, resonant tunneling of single Cooper pairs (RT) Brink  was found to be responsible for the charge transport at somewhat larger bias voltages $`2E_\text{c}/e<2\mathrm{\Delta }_{\text{Al}}`$ Havi . Here, $`E_\text{c}\frac{e^2}{2C_\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$ is the charging energy, $`C_\mathrm{\Sigma }=2C_\text{T}+C_\text{g}`$ the total capacitance of the transistor island, $`C_\text{T}`$ the tunnel capacitance (in a symmetric device), $`C_\text{g}`$ the gate capacitance, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\text{Al}}200\mu `$eV the superconducting energy gap of Al. The RT process involves resonant mixing of charge states across one junction, completed by tunneling of Cooper pairs in the second junction with energy dissipation in the resistor.

In our recent paper Lotk-prl2003  we had shown that at low temperatures and small voltage bias, CT dominates in the net current for gate charges $`Q_\text{g}C_\text{g}V_\text{g}`$, $`\left|Q_\text{g}\right|e/2`$, where ST is blocked due to the Coulomb barrier $`2E_\text{c}`$, provided the Josephson coupling energy in the junctions $`E_\text{J}`$ is small, $`E_\text{J}E_\mathrm{c}`$. The ST process becomes energetically favourable in the points around $`Q_\text{g}emod(2e)`$, giving rise to the ”open” states of the SET. In the experiment, these states are often unstable towards spontaneous tunneling of non-equilibrium quasiparticles (the so-called, quasiparticle poisoning effect, see, e.g., Geerl  and Tuom ). Study of the crossover between ST and CT is therefore a challenging task.

In this paper, besides the observation of the CT current, we succeeded in realizing of the regime, where the ST process dominates over CT. We focus on the range of small bias voltages $`eV2\mathrm{\Delta }_{\text{Al}}`$, where tunneling of Cooper pairs dominates over that of quasiparticles, and RT is energetically unfavourable Brink . In order to circumvent quasiparticle poisoning of the island in the open states, we applied a high-frequency signal of sufficient amplitude to the gate and measured the time-averaged $`IV`$ dependencies. The measured curves were compared with the results provided by a simple model based on the master equation approach. We considered the current evolution along the gate cycle. As expected, it was characterized by the major input from ST in the open states. Our calculation also showed that the contribution of ST current, averaged over the whole cycle, dominates over that of CT.

## II Theoretical background

At voltages $`eV2\mathrm{\Delta }_{\text{Al}}400\mu `$eV, which are well below the thresholds for the different processes incorporating tunneling of quasiparticles (see, e.g., Josephson-quasiparticle cycles in Brink , Fult  and TuoIEEE ), the tunneling of quasiparticles is rare Tuom , Amar , and the net current is related to the transport of Cooper pairs.

The Cooper pair dynamics in a superconducting SET with $`E_\text{J}E_\text{c}`$ and appreciable dissipation is qualitatively similar to that of electrons in the normal-state SET described by the orthodox theory Altsh . In particular, a quantum state of the whole system can be described by the number $`n`$ of extra Cooper pairs on the island of the SET. The Josephson coupling in the junctions can be regarded as a small perturbation in the total Hamiltonian of the system, giving rise to random tunneling events of different orders IngNaz .

Since tunneling of Cooper pairs does not produce excitations, it is dissipating properties of the environment that define the functional dependence of a particular tunneling rate on the electrostatic energy difference $`E`$ associated with the tunneling event. The corresponding probability function $`P(E)`$ characterizes the ability of the environment to exchange an energy $`E`$ with the tunneling pair. For a given temperature, the shape of the $`P`$-function depends on the environmental impedance $`Z(\omega )`$ as well as on the tunnel capacitances of the junctions. In some important cases, $`P(E)`$ can be expressed analytically (see, for example, below).

The process of the lowest order of perturbation is known as direct tunneling of a pair in either junction. It changes the charge state of the SET island by $`\pm 2e`$. A rate of direct tunneling can be expressed as AvNazOd :

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(E)=\frac{\pi }{2\mathrm{}}E_J^2P(E).$$
(1)
The validity range of the perturbative approach Eq. (1) strongly depends on the dissipative properties of the environment and is generally restricted to SETs with relatively weak Josephson coupling and/or large damping, i.e., when:

$$E_\text{J}P(E)1.$$
(2)
An analysis performed in Ref. IngNaz  shows that in the case of zero temperature and a low-ohmic environment, Re$`Z(\omega )R_\text{Q}`$, the probability $`P(E)`$ grows infinitely around zero energies, and the condition Eq. (2) is always violated at small voltages. On the contrary, at finite experimental temperatures $`T`$ 100 mK and/or in the case of moderate dissipation, Re$`Z(\omega )R_\text{Q}`$, the function $`P(E)4E_\text{c}^1`$ is distributed over the broad range of energies so that the conditional equation (2) can be reformulated as $`\lambda E_\text{J}/E_\text{c}4`$. For the junctions in a high-ohmic environment, Re$`Z(\omega )>R_\text{Q}`$, the conditional equation (2) is even less restrictive at low energies, where $`P`$ is a power function of $`E`$ (see Eq. (111) in Ref. IngNaz ). As a result, in the systems with noticeable dissipation, the approximation of discrete tunneling events can even be applied to junctions with relatively strong Josephson coupling.

For small energies, the external impedance can be considered to be frequency-independent $`Z(\omega )=Z(0)`$ (purely ohmic) and one obtains an analytic expression IngGrab  for the $`P`$-function for tunneling in individual junctions of a symmetric transistor:

$`P(E)=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{z^{2z}}{8E_c}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2E_c}{\pi ^2k_BT}}\right)^{12z}e^{2\gamma z}`$
$`\times `$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\left|\mathrm{\Gamma }\left[zj\left(E/2\pi k_BT\right)\right]\right|^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(2z\right)}}e^{E/2k_BT},`$ (3)
which is valid for low temperatures and energies $`E\mathrm{}\omega _Z`$. The value of the threshold frequency $`\omega _Z`$ of the ohmic approximation is defined for each experimental layout by all environmental components (including resistor, tunnel and stray capacitances and inductances according to the chip layout). In our experiment, the typical value was evaluated $`\omega _Z4\times 10^{10}`$ s-1 ($`\mathrm{}\omega _Z25\mu `$eV, cf. experimental section of this paper). In Eq. (II), $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a gamma function and $`\gamma 0.577`$ Euler’s constant. The dimensionless resistance $`z=\frac{\rho }{4}`$, where $`\rho Z(0)/R_\text{Q}`$, accounts for the factor 1/4 (in comparison to the case of a single junction or cotunneling) which arises from the partial decoupling effect of the tunnel junction from the environment due to the other junction (cf. network considerations in Ref. IngNaz ). The low-temperature approximation requires $`k_\text{B}T4E_\text{c}`$/$`\pi z`$ which in most of the cases is valid in the whole mK temperature range.

For tunneling in the left (right) junction of the symmetric SET, the energy difference is:

$$E(V,Q)=eV4E_\text{c}\left(1\pm \frac{Q}{e}\right);$$
(4)
it depends on voltage bias $`V`$ and effective charge $`Q=Q_\text{g}`$ \+ $`Q_\text{T}`$, where $`Q_\text{T}=2ne+me`$ is a charge of $`n`$ extra Cooper pairs and $`m`$ extra quasiparticles on the island. Similar to the case of a normal-state SET (see, e. g., Ref. Altsh ), the energy relations in Eq. (4) can be mapped in the $`VV_\text{g}`$ plane, giving a 2e-periodic diamond-shaped stability diagram for Cooper pairs. As shown in Fig. 2(a), this diagram is featured by a blockade domains with the stable number of extra pairs on the island, as well as by the regions of open states, where at least two alternating charge states are available for realization of sequential transport of Cooper pairs through the SET. At small biases, the values of the gate charge for the open states of the SET, e.g., $`Q_\text{g}emod(2e)`$ for $`m=0`$, correspond to a small vicinity of the resonance points $`Q=\pm e`$.

Similar to the normal-state SET, it is also possible to calculate the net ST current at low temperatures, using the master equation approach. In particular, in the important case of a small voltage bias, the stationary population of the island is dominated by two charge states, $`n=0,1`$, with the occupation probabilities $`\sigma _n=\sigma _n(v,v_\text{g})`$ which can be found with the help of the detailed balance principle:

$`\sigma _0={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{}(1)+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^+(1)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Sigma }}},`$
$`\sigma _1={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^+(0)+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{}(0)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Sigma }}},`$ (5)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Sigma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{}(1)+\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^+(0)+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^+(1)+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{}(0)`$, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,2}^\pm (n)=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1,2}^\pm (v,v_\text{g},Q_\text{T})`$ denote the rates in the left (right) junction in the positive (negative) direction and can be calculated with the help of Eqs. (1), (II) and (4). The net current is obtained as a sum over the states $`n`$:

$`I`$ $`=2e\left[\sigma _0\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^+(0)\sigma _1\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{}(1)\right]`$ (6)
$`=2e\left[\sigma _1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^+(1)\sigma _0\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{}(0)\right].`$
An example of the ST current dependence on the gate voltages $`I(v,v_\text{g})`$, calculated for fixed bias voltage and the parameters of one of our samples, is shown in Fig. 2(b). The net current, $`I0.1I_\text{c}^{\text{AB}}1`$ nA, where $`I_\text{c}^{\text{AB}}`$ is the Ambegaokar-Baratoff critical current, is significant in the open domain between the resonant boundaries and decays exponentially with the height of the barrier $`\left|E\right|`$, see Eq. (4), inside the blockade domains: $`I\text{exp}(\left|E\right|/2k_\text{B}T)`$.

Simple analysis of the time-dependent master equation shows that the time $`\tau `$ the system takes to reach its stationary state, when moving between the operating points in the open domain (where the current is considerable), $`\tau \mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Sigma }^1e/2I0.1`$ ns, is well below the experimental range of time $`10`$ ns of passing one open domain when the gate is cycled at $`f1`$ MHz. Making use of this fact, the quasi-stationary master-equation approach can be applied and the stationary ST currents considered for each point of the cycling trajectory, even when modeling high-frequency behaviour of the system. The gate cycling in particular will result in a regular pattern of ST current pulses, for example, 4 pulses per cycle which involves 4 open domains (see Fig. 2(c)), and the mean ST current, $`\overline{I}_{\text{st}}`$, can be obtained by averaging the values of $`I(v,v_\text{g})`$ over the cycling period.

A contribution $`I_{\text{ct}}`$ to the total net current due to higher-order processes, i.e., cotunneling of Cooper pairs, can be analyzed using the lines developed in Ref. Lotk-prl2003 . It was shown in particular that an SET can be modeled by a single junction with an effective, gate-voltage-dependent, Josephson coupling Hamiltonian $`H_{\text{tr}}(\varphi ,Q)`$, where $`\varphi `$ is the overall Josephson phase. The coupling is $`2\pi `$-periodic in $`\varphi `$, but its shape is generally different from $`\text{cos}\varphi `$. Expansion of the coupling Hamiltonian into Fourier series (see Eq. (4) in Ref. Lotk-prl2003 ) makes it possible to assess the individual contributions to the CT-current from the different-order cotunneling channels, each one simultaneously transporting a certain number $`k`$ of Cooper pairs through the SET. Similar to direct tunneling, the rate formula in Eq. (1) can be used to calculate the partial cotunneling rates due to each channel, with the substitution $`E=2keV`$, taking account of cotunneling of $`k`$ pairs. The effective value of Josephson coupling energy for each channel is given by the corresponding Fourier coefficient $`E_\text{J}^{(k)}(Q)`$, and the dimensionless resistance $`k^2\rho `$ must be used in Eq. (II) for the $`P`$-function.

It was shown in Ref. Lotk-prl2003  that the lowest-order, i.e. single-pair, CT-process with $`k=1`$ generally dominates in the CT-current through the SET, and the principal Fourier term can provide a reasonable approximation for the coupling Hamiltonian: $`H_{\text{tr}}(\varphi ,Q)E_\text{J}^1(Q)`$cos($`\varphi `$). It can further be demonstrated that dropping-out of the higher terms causes an error of $`\delta I_{\text{ct}}10`$ % at most which is obtained, in a symmetric SET, in the degeneracy points $`Q\pm e`$ (see Eq. 6 in Ref. Lotk-prl2003 ). Around these points, the CT-current almost behaves like a Lorentzian peak, and at $`Q0`$ it decays more slowly than the exponentially suppressed ST current (see Fig. 2(b)). As a result, the CT-current dominates in the net current inside the blockade domains.

## III Experimental setup

The samples were fabricated by the shadow evaporation technique. The details of our fabrication process can be found in Napoli . Each structure was built on three almost congruent metal layers (see Fig. 3) deposited at different angles through the same pattern in the mask with hanging bridges. The layers were of Cr, 7 nm thick and 0.1 $`\mu `$m wide as used for high-ohmic resistors, and two layers of Al, 30 and 35 nm in thickness, evaporated with intermediate oxidation of the first layer to form the tunnel barriers. The nominal tunnel junction area was 40 nm $`\times `$ 80 nm.

The results reported in this paper were obtained on two SETs (samples 2 and 3, see Table 1) in a dissipating environment, realized as Cr microresistors with $`Z(0)=R_{\text{Cr}}`$ 3 and 12 k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ as well as on a reference sample 1 without resistor, i.e., $`R_{\text{Cr}}=`$ 0. The corresponding values of the dimensionless resistance parameter were $`\rho `$ 0.5, 2 and 0. Due to the linearity and small lengths of the resistors it was possible to consider them as lumped elements (ohmic resistors) and neglect their distributed self-capacitance ($``$ 65 aF/$`\mu `$m, as earlier estimated for the similar layout Zang ).

Ambegaokar-Baratoff critical currents of individual junctions were estimated, assuming symmetry of the transistors: $`I_c^{\text{AB}}=\frac{\pi \mathrm{\Delta }_{\text{Al}}}{2eR_\text{T}}`$ 13—15 nA, where $`R_\text{T}`$ is the tunnel resistance. The corresponding values of the Josephson energy were $`E_\text{J}=\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{0}}{2\pi }I_\text{c}^{\text{AB}}`$ 26—32 $`\mu `$eV, where $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{0}=\frac{h}{2e}`$ is the flux quantum. Roughly evaluated with the help of a similar device with $`R_{\text{Cr}}=0`$ in the normal state, the characteristic charging energy of the transistor island was $`E_\mathrm{c}`$ 150 to 170 $`\mu `$eV. The ratio of the characteristic energies in all our samples, $`\lambda `$ 0.15—0.2, indicates that the SET charging energy dominated over the Josephson energy of the junctions. 1e-modulation period in the $`IV_\text{g}`$ curve without rf drive was $`20`$ mV yielding $`C_\text{g}8`$ aF.

$`IV`$ characteristics were measured at the base temperature of the dilution refrigerator of about 10 mK. The bias and gate lines were equipped with microwave filters made of Thermocoax® cables, 1.5m in length, each thermally anchored to the mixing chamber. The filters provided reliable electromagnetic isolation of the sample inside the shielded sample holder at frequencies above $`f1`$ GHz Zorin-Thermocoax .

## IV Experimental results

As discussed above, observation of ST current should be possible in the vicinity of the resonance points $`Q=\pm e`$. The parity effect in a superconducting SET (see, e. g., Refs. Tuom , Amar  and Parity ), basically makes it possible to reach these points through appropriately setting the gate voltage, provided quasiparticle poisoning (QPP) effects are absent (the value of $`m`$ is zero or, at least, fixed), and the experimental gate modulation is 2e-periodical. Unfortunately, the effect of QPP did not allow us to reach the resonance points and hindered the observation of ST currents in the dc regime: The observed periodicity was strictly 1e, corresponding to the range of the island charge $`e/2<Q<e/2`$, i. e., inside the ST blockade domain at low bias voltages.

The effect of QPP is generally supposed to originate from various experimental non-idealities including subgap quasiparticle states Lafa , out-of-equilibrium quasiparticles Joyez , back influence of the SET electrometer on the island (box) Mann , etc. It involves uncontrolled excitation of quasiparticles in the outer electrodes and their tunneling into the island of SET, thus changing $`m`$ and minimizing the charging energy of the system. In particular, in the resonant points $`Q_\text{g}=emod(2e)`$ and $`V=0`$, the charging energy is minimized, when one extra quasiparticle enters the island resulting in $`Q=0`$ and Coulomb blockade of ST. The poisoning rate $`\gamma _\text{B}`$ depends on the number of excitations and the subgap tunnel resistance. Typically $`\gamma _\text{B}`$ 16—1000 s-1 (see, e.g., Ref. Mann ).

In Fig. 4 the dc $`IV`$ curves are shown for integer and half-integer values of $`Q`$ in the system with considerable dissipation ($`R_{\text{Cr}}=3`$ k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, sample 2) in comparison to those for a similar SET fabricated without engineered dissipation ($`R_{\text{Cr}}=0`$, sample 1). As expected for the blockade state, the dc currents were small (up to $`10`$ pA) and could be attributed to the higher-order CT process. In good agreement with the theory Lotk-prl2003 , the CT-current was modulated by the gate with a maximum-to-minimum ratio of $``$2 within the accessible range of $`e/2<Q<e/2`$.

To avoid the effect of QPP and reach the open domain for ST at least for a short time, we applied a periodic gate signal of frequency $`f1`$ MHz which was well above a typical quasiparticle tunneling rate. Due to these fast oscillations, the actual values of $`Q`$ along the gate sweep were expected to be less affected by the relatively rare quasiparticle tunneling than in the dc mode. As a result, the net current averaged over many cycles should include a substantial contribution due to ST in the open domains.

The $`IV`$ curves measured in this regime are shown in Fig. 5 for sample 2 and several rf amplitudes of the gate signal $`V_\text{A}`$, $`1<C_\text{g}V_\text{A}/e<2`$. The most striking feature of these curves is the dramatic increase in the SET current, demonstrating a large contribution from the open domains involved in gate cycling (cf. scale of rf-induced current in Fig. 5 with that of dc $`IV`$ curves of this sample in Fig. 4). At fixed bias, the rf-induced current was a 1e-periodic function of the dc gate shift $`V_{g0}`$ (cf. top inset in Fig. 5) which shows that the effect of QPP was still substantial in a long time scale.

A rough evaluation of the contribution of both ST and CT to the average current in the rf mode can be made with the help of duty-cycle weighting of typical open domain values. For sample 2, these values were estimated to be $`I_{\text{st}}1.5`$ nA and $`I_{\text{ct}}0.3`$ nA, respectively. Further assuming $`V=25\mu `$V and $`V_\text{A}`$ = 30 mV, the duty cycle is $`0.05`$ producing the estimates: $`\overline{I}_{\text{st}}`$ 100 pA and $`\overline{I}_{\text{ct}}`$ 20 pA, respectively. The total current value $`\overline{I}_{\text{tot}}=\overline{I}_{\text{st}}+\overline{I}_{\text{ct}}`$ 120 pA thus obtained agree with the order of magnitude of the experimental data in Fig. 5.

For more accurate evaluation of $`\overline{I}_{\text{st}}`$, we applied the quasi-static master equation approach (Eqs. (II)-(6)) and, for the total current $`\overline{I}_{\text{tot}}`$, also took the cycle average $`\overline{I}_{\text{ct}}`$ of CT current into account. We found satisfactory agreement between calculated and experimental $`IV`$ curves in the low voltage region, $`V25\mu `$V (see the bottom inset in Fig. 5). Noticeable discrepancy of the data at higher voltages in our opinion points to the upper limit of the frequency-independent behaviour of the environmental impedance assumed in Eq. (II) for the calculation of the $`P`$-function. It is still difficult to explain the relatively low value of the cutoff frequency $`\omega _Z=eV/\mathrm{}4\times 10^{10}`$ s-1 for our short ($`0.5\mu `$m - long) microstrips (cf. cut-off frequencies $`10^{11}`$ s-1 for Re$`Z(\omega )`$ of similar microstrips in Ref. Zang ).

The height of the current peaks was found to quasi-periodically depend on the drive amplitude, with a tendency to saturate at higher amplitudes (cf. Fig. 6, showing the dependence for sample 3 with $`R_{\text{Cr}}12k\mathrm{\Omega }`$). In our opinion, the observed quasi-periodicity on $`V_\text{A}`$ is a result of the step-wise involvement of multiple open domains in gate cycling, each contributing one pulse of ST current. In good agreement with this model, every period consists of two distinct segments: sharp increase in the peak height just above the values $`V_\text{A}=(2n+1)e/C_\text{g}`$, $`n=`$ 0,1,2,…, where an additional open domain becomes involved, and gradual reduction of the height along the other part of the period, corresponding to a shortening of the duty cycle with increasing amplitudes. The inset in Fig. 6 shows the rf-induced current peaks as a function of transport voltage $`V`$. The position of the peaks was evidently shifted to higher voltages as compared to the sample 2, which results from the shape of the $`P`$-function for a relatively large dissipation in sample 3.

## V Conclusions

We reported the experimental results on dissipative sequential tunneling of Cooper pairs in SETs with compact on-chip resistors. Whereas Cooper pair cotunneling was the dominant dc transport mechanism for the gate voltage range $`e/2<C_\text{g}V_\text{g}<e/2`$, we were able to observe rf-induced sequential tunneling of pairs realized with the help of high-frequency gate cycling resulted in a pulsed ST current through the SET. We demonstrated that - in accordance with theoretical predictions - the integral contribution to the net current of ST exceeds that of the CT in the rf-cycling mode, indicating its dominance in the vicinity of the resonant points $`Q=\pm e`$. By a simple model based on a quasi-static master equation approach it was possible to well describe the observed $`IV`$ curve at low voltages.

Moreover, we demonstrated that, due to the effectively smaller environmental resistance seen by each single junction of an SET ($`\frac{1}{4}R_{\text{Cr}}`$), the appreciable rf-induced ST currents can be realized even in systems with larger resistors of several $`R_\text{Q}`$, where the CT current is substantially suppressed. This effect, for example, is important for possible application of discrete Cooper pair tunneling to generate accurate currents by Cooper-pair pumps Geerligs .

Another important result of our studies is the demonstration of quasiparticle-poisoning-free performance of a superconducting SET at frequencies of $`f`$ 1 MHz. This is important for the potential application of small Josephson junctions in quantum information processing, giving an estimate for a period of time of at least $`1\mu `$s KHz  as is available for reading out the final state of a charge qubit Qubit  of the loop configuration with nonzero circulating supercurrent.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The work was partially supported by the EU through projects COUNT and SQUBIT-2.


text:
# First order shape transition and critical point nuclei in Sm isotopes from relativistic mean field approach

## Abstract

The critical point nuclei in Sm isotopes, which marks the first order phase transition between spherical U(5) and axially deformed shapes SU(3), have been investigated in the microscopic quadrupole constrained relativistic mean field (RMF) model plus BCS method with all the most used interactions, i.e., NL1, NL3, NLSH and TM1. The calculated potential energy surfaces show a clear shape transition for the even-even Sm isotopes with $`N=8296`$ and the critical point nuclei are found to be 148Sm, 150Sm and 152Sm. Similar conclusions can also be drawn from the microscopic neutron and proton single particle spectra.

The equilibrium shape for finite many-body systems such as nucleus, atom, molecule, etc. have been a hot topic for the past several decades. These shapes are normally not rigid and change as a function of their constituents. Sometimes these changes can be quite abrupt and exhibit phase transitional and critical point behavior similar to that found in a wide variety of many-body systems, though the concepts of phase transitions are only approximate for finite system.

Properties of the system in the transition region and, in particular, at the critical point can be found by solving numerically the eigenvalue problem for the Hamiltonian. However, the transition regions are difficult to interpret as they exhibit a complicated interplay of competing degrees of freedom. Yet such system are in many respects the most important, as their structure defines the nature of the transition region itself.

Recently, the concept of such critical point solutions has been introduced in the framework of the algebraic models, in which different shapes (phases) correspond to dynamic symmetries of some algebraic structure G and the phase transition corresponds to the breaking of the dynamical symmetries. In the Interacting Boson Model iacbook  G $``$ U(6) and there are three dynamical symmetries characterized by the first algebra in the chain originating from U(6), that is U(5), SU(3), and SO(6), with spherical, axially deformed, and $`\gamma `$-unstable shapes. Experimental examples of all three types of symmetries can be found in nuclei, e.g., the U(5) nuclei can occur near closed shells, SU(3) nuclei can occur in the middle of shells, and the O(6) limit tends to occur in nuclei with particles-holes configuration. The phase transition between spherical U(5) and axially deformed shapes SU(3) is first order diep ; feng . The phase/shape transition region is characterized by a pronounced $`\beta `$ softness iac98 . This characteristic led to the analytic solution for critical point nuclei, called X(5) for axially symmetric case, and is based on analytic solutions of the Schrödinger equation corresponding to a geometric (Bohr) Hamiltonian with a square-well potential iac01 . It has been shown that 152Sm cas01  and other $`N`$ = 90 isotones cap02  are the first empirical manifestation of the predicted nuclei at the critical point of vibrator (spherical shape) to axial rotor (axially deformed shape) phase transition.

The critical-point symmetries provide a classification of states and analytic expressions for observables in regions where the structure changes most rapidly. The ideas can be visualized in terms of two coexisting potentials, spherical and deformed, whose energy separation varies with nucleon number. Although phase transitions and critical point have been discussed in atomic nuclei for many years, there is no microscopical investigations yet. As an important complementary way, a microscopic study could be very helpful for us to understand where and how nuclei exhibiting structures close to these symmetries occur. It is the main purpose of this Letter to close this gap in the study of symmetry. The relativistic mean field (RMF) theory Serot:1986  has received wide attention because of its successful description of many nuclear phenomena during the past years Ring:1996 . In particular, the exotic halo phenomena can be understood self-consistently in this microscopical model after the proper treatment of the continuum effect Meng:1996 ; Meng:1998a ; Meng:1998 . Here in this letter we will discuss the realization of the critical point concept in atomic nuclei in the microscopic quadrupole constrained RMF theory with pairing treated by the BCS method, which will show that 148,150,152Sm are excellent empirical manifestations of this critical point structure.

The basic Ansatz of the RMF theory is a Lagrangian density where nucleons are described as Dirac particles which interact via the exchange of various mesons including the isoscalar-scalar $`\sigma `$ meson, the isoscalar-vector $`\omega `$ meson and the isovector-vector $`\rho `$ meson. The effective Lagrangian density considered is written in the form:

$``$ $`=`$ $`\overline{\psi }_i\left(i\text{/}M\right)\psi _i+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}_\mu \sigma ^\mu \sigma U(\sigma )g_\sigma \overline{\psi }_i\sigma \psi _i`$ (1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mu \nu }\mathrm{\Omega }^{\mu \nu }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_\omega ^2\omega _\mu \omega ^\mu g_\omega \overline{\psi }_i\text{/}𝝎\psi _i`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\stackrel{}{R}_{\mu \nu }\stackrel{}{R}^{\mu \nu }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_\rho ^2\stackrel{}{\rho }_\mu \stackrel{}{\rho }^\mu g_\rho \overline{\psi }_i\text{/}\stackrel{}{𝝆}\stackrel{}{\tau }\psi _i`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}F_{\mu \nu }F^{\mu \nu }e\overline{\psi }_i{\displaystyle \frac{1\tau _3}{2}}\text{/}𝐀\psi _i,`$
where $`\overline{\psi }=\psi ^{}\gamma ^0`$ and $`\psi `$ is the Dirac spinor. Other symbols have their usual meanings.

The Dirac equation for the nucleons and the Klein-Gordon type equations for the mesons and the photon are given by the variational principle and can be solved by expanding the wavefunctions in terms of the eigenfunctions of a deformed axially symmetric harmonic-oscillator potential Gambhir:1990  or a Woods-Saxon potentialZMR03 . The details can be also found in Ref. Ring:1996  and references therein.

The potential energy curve can be calculated microscopically by the constrained RMF theory. The binding energy at certain deformation value is obtained by constraining the quadrupole moment $`Q_2`$ to a given value $`\mu _2`$ in the expectation value of the Hamiltonian Ring:1980 ,

$$H^{}=H+\frac{1}{2}C_\mu \left(Q_2\mu _2\right)^2,$$
(2)
where $`C_\mu `$ is the constraint multiplier.

For the nuclei studied in this paper, the full $`N`$ = 20 deformed harmonic oscillator shells are taken into account and the convergence of the numerical calculation on the binding energy and the deformation is very good. The converged deformations corresponding to different $`\mu _2`$ are not sensitive to the deformation parameter $`\beta _0`$ of the harmonic oscillator basis in a reasonable range due to the large basis. The different choices of $`\beta _0`$ lead to different iteration numbers of the self-consistent calculation and different computational time. But physical quantities such as the binding energy and the deformation change very little. Thus the deformation parameter $`\beta _0`$ of the harmonic oscillator basis is chosen near the expected deformation to obtain high accuracy and low computation time cost. By varying $`\mu _2`$, the binding energy at different deformation can be obtained. The pairing is considered by the constant gap approximation (BCS) in which the pairing gap is taken as $`{\displaystyle \frac{12}{\sqrt{A}}}`$ for even number nucleons.

The binding energies and the quadropole deformation for the ground states are listed in Table 1 in constrained RMF theory with NL1RRMG:1986 , NLSHSNR:1993 , TM1ST:1994  and NL3LKR:1997  parameter sets. For the binding energies, the data are well reproduced within 0.5 %. Particularly for NL3, excellent agreement (within 1 MeV) is observed for the binding energy in 146-158Sm. Even for neutron magic nuclei 144Sm, the difference between the RMF calculation and the data is less than 3 MeV, i.e., relatively less than 0.3 %. The spherical shapes in 144,146Sm and the weakly deformed 148Sm are well reproduced. The deformations in 150-158Sm are a little over-estimated by the theoretical calculations. In general, it can be concluded that the data is well reproduced by the constrained RMF theory.

Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 show the potential energy curves for 144-158Sm in constrained RMF theory with NL1, NL3, NLSH and TM1 parameters, in which the energy for the ground state is taken as a reference. Similar patterns are found for all the parameter sets. The ground state of 144Sm is found to be spherical and has about 12 MeV stiff barrier against deformation. Although the ground state of 146Sm is still spherical, its barrier becomes around 8 MeV against deformation. With the increase of the neutron number, the ground state gradually moves toward the deformed side and the potential energy curve becomes more soft. Finally well deformed 154-158Sm are observed.

To examine how the shape of the Sm isotopes changes with the neutron number, the differences of the binding energy between the ground state and the state with spherical shape for Sm isotopes are presented in Table 2 in the constrained RMF theory with the NL1, NL3, NLSH and TM1 parameter sets. These differences can tell us how soft the nucleus is against deformation and may give us a hint on the phase transition of the nuclear shape. From 144-158Sm, the energy differences between the ground state and the state with spherical shape change from 0 to 15 MeV. There are two jumps in the energy differences. The first jump appears at 148Sm and the second at 154Sm, which suggests the shape transition from spherical to critical point nuclei, and finally to axially deformed nuclei. The potential energy curves for 148Sm, 150Sm, and 152Sm are relatively flat, i.e., they are $`\beta _2`$-soft nuclei in the transition between spherical and axially symmetric deformed nuclei.

One of the merits of microscopic nuclear models such as RMF theory is that it can provide detailed information on single particle levels, shell structure etc., which are very important for us to discuss nuclear structure and examine the deformation driving effect. In Fig. 5 the single neutron levels for 144-158Sm lying between 0 and $``$15 MeV are shown. The Fermi levels are presented by dashed line. Fig. 6 is similar to Fig. 5 but for protons. These two figures present results calculated with the parameter set TM1. The other three parameter sets give similar single particle structure thus not presented here.

From Figs. 5 and 6 one finds a consistency between the shell structure evolution and the shape evolution in Sm isotopes with increasing neutron number. Namely, for 144Sm, spherical symmetry is better restored. The deformation develops with $`N`$ increasing. The deformation in 146Sm is still small and the energy gap with $`N=82`$ can be clearly seen from the single particle spectra. The nuclei 148-150Sm belong to a transition area, in which the $`N=82`$ gaps still exist but much smaller than that in 144,146Sm. Starting from 154Sm, the gap with $`N=82`$ disappears. Meanwhile a deformed gap for $`Z=62`$ develops and also that for $`N=94`$. Correspondingly, we observe the well deformed 154-158Sm.

In summary, the shape transition between spherical and axially deformed nuclei in 144-158Sm are investigated by the microscopic quadropole constrained relativistic mean field theory with all the most used interactions, i.e., NL1, NL3, NLSH and TM1. The RMF calculation reproduces very well the data of the binding energy and deformation for the ground states. By examining the potential energy curves and the single particle levels obtained by this microscopic approach, 148Sm ,150Sm, and 152Sm are found to be soft against $`\beta `$ deformation and the critical point candidate nuclei, which marks the first order phase transition between spherical U(5) and axially deformed shapes SU(3).

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank Victor Zamfir for helpful discussions and useful comments. This work was partly supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program Under Contract Number G2000077407 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 10025522, 10221003 and 10047001.


text:
# Phase slips in superconducting films with constrictions

## I Introduction

Thermally activated vortex-like excitations (topological defects) of the superconducting condensate is the primary source of dissipation in mesoscopic superconducting structures.tinkham\_text  These fluctuations take different forms in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) systems. In 2D thin films the fluctuations are known to be broken vortex-antivortex pairs berezinskii ; kosterlitz\_thouless ; kosterlitz ; beasley\_etal ; halperin\_nelson ; minnhagen ; bancel\_gray ; hebard\_fiory ; rosario\_etal ; strachan\_etal  while in 1D wires the resistance is due to phase slips.little ; langer\_ambegaokar ; mccumber\_halperin ; lukens\_etal ; newbower\_etal ; sharifi\_etal ; lau\_etal ; tinkham\_lau ; rogachev\_bezryadin ; bollinger\_etal  One important difference between these two types of fluctuations is that vortices and antivortices form bound pairs below a certain critical temperature, known as the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition temperature, while phase slips and anti-phase-slips are unbound at any finite temperature. Thus the resistance of 1D wires is greater than zero at any finite temperature due to the presence of phase slips, which are described by the theory of Langer, Ambegaokar, McCumber, and Halperin (LAMH), langer\_ambegaokar ; mccumber\_halperin

Here we report a study of structures in which both types of fluctuations can coexist, namely thin films containing constrictions, which are comparable in size to the coherence length. The goals of this work are (i) to test the applicability of the LAMH theory for short and rather wide constrictions and (ii) to test the effect of the vortex-antivortex sea existing in the thin film banks adjacent to the constriction on the phase slippage rate on the constriction itself. For this purpose we fabricate and measure a series of thin superconducting MoGe filmsgraybeal\_thesis  (which are about 15 $`\mu `$m wide) interrupted by constrictions or “bridges” (see Fig. 1a). The width of the narrowest point of the bridges is in the range of 13-28 nm, i.e. a few times larger than the coherence length (we estimate $`\xi (0)7`$ nm for our MoGe filmsbezryadin\_etal ). Two resistive transitions are observed in such samples indicating that vortex-antivortex pair binding-unbinding transition (if any) and thermally activated phase slip processes occur separately. For $`T>T_{\text{BKT}}`$ the contribution of vortex-antivortex pairs is dominant. On the other hand, below $`T_{\text{BKT}}`$ the transport properties are determined by the phase slip process on the bridge, which may be regarded as a vortex-antivortex pair breaking assisted by the bridge.

Using direct and indirect techniques we have tracked the sample’s resistance within a range of eleven orders of magnitude. The resulting $`R(T)`$ curves are compared with the LAMH theory. Regardless of the large width of the bridges and their shortness, the shape of the measured $`R(T)`$ curves is in perfect agreement with the overall shape of the curves computed using the standard LAMH theory (note that this theory was originally derived for very long wires that are much thinner than the coherence length). The only disagreement found with LAMH is that the pre-exponential factor had to be modified in order to obtain a reasonably low critical temperature of the bridges. (The critical temperature is used as an adjustable parameter in the fitting procedure.) Following the argument of Littlelittle  we arrive at the conclusion that the pre-exponential factor should be simply $`R_N`$ and obtain a good agreement with measured curves. The measurements show that the bridges with intermediate dimensions (i) allow phase slippage which does not quench at any finite temperature, (ii) behave independently of the thin film banks, and (iii) exhibit a higher rate of phase slippage in the cases when the width of the bridge is smaller and therefore when the coupling between the thin film banks is weaker.

Before presenting our experimental results we give a brief summary of the BKT theory of topological phase transitions and the LAMH theory of thermally activated phase slips. In thin superconducting films, even in the absence of a magnetic field, an equal population of free vortices and antivortices is expected to occur. The BKT theory predicts a universal jump in the film superfluid density $`n_s`$ at the characteristic temperature $`T_{\text{BKT}}`$, lower than the mean field critical temperature of the film $`T_{c0}`$. Such a jump is related to the vortex-antivortex pair binding through a logarithmic interaction potential between free vortices kosterlitz\_thouless ; goldman\_etal . Applied currents can break bound pairs producing free vortices and leading to non-linear $`V(I)`$ curves. Above $`T_{\text{BKT}}`$ the linear resistance of a film is given by the Halperin-Nelson (HN) formulahebard\_fiory ; halperin\_nelson

$$R_{\text{HN}}=10.8bR_{n,\text{f}}\text{exp}\left[2\sqrt{b(T_{c0}T_{\text{BKT}})/(TT_{\text{BKT}})}\right]$$
(1)
where $`R_{n,\text{f}}`$ is the normal state resistance per square of the film and $`b`$ is a non-universal constant. Note that the HN equation predicts zero resistance for temperatures below the BKT phase transition temperature $`T_{\text{BKT}}`$.

The LAMH theorytinkham\_text ; little ; langer\_ambegaokar ; mccumber\_halperin  applies to narrow superconducting channels, in which thermal fluctuations can cause phase slips, i.e. jumps by $`2\pi `$ of the phase difference of the superconducting order parameter. In unbiased samples the number of phase slips (which change the phase difference by $`2\pi `$) equals the number of anti-phase-slips (which change the phase difference by $`2\pi `$). An applied bias current pushes the system away from the equilibrium and the number of phase slips becomes larger than the number of anti-phase-slips. Thus a net voltage appears on the sample, which can be calculated, following LAMH, as $`V=\mathrm{}\dot{\varphi }/2e`$ (below we will also discuss an alternative approach to the voltage definition). Here $`\mathrm{}`$ is Planck’s constant, $`e`$ is the electron charge, and $`\dot{\varphi }`$ is the rate of change of the phase difference between the ends of the wire. During the phase slip process the energy of the system increases since the order parameter becomes suppressed to zero in the center of the phase slip. Thermal activations of the system over this free energy barrier $`\mathrm{\Delta }F(T)`$ occur at a rate given by $`(\mathrm{\Omega }(T)/2\pi )e^{\mathrm{\Delta }F/kT}`$. If the bias current is not zero, then the net rate of the phase slippage is $`\dot{\varphi }=\mathrm{\Omega }(T)(e^{\mathrm{\Delta }F_+(I)/kT}e^{\mathrm{\Delta }F_{}(I)/kT})`$. Here $`I`$ is the bias current, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_+`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_{}`$ are the barriers for phase slips and anti-phase-slips correspondingly (these two barriers become equal to each other at zero bias current). The attempt frequency derived from a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory, for the case of a long and thin wire, ismccumber\_halperin

$$\mathrm{\Omega }(T)=\frac{L}{\xi (T)}\frac{1}{\tau _{\text{GL}}}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }F}{kT}\right)^{1/2}$$
(2)
where $`T`$ is the temperature of the wire, and $`L/\xi (T)`$ is the length of the wire measured in units of the GL coherence length $`\xi (T)`$. The attempt frequency is inversely proportional to the relaxation time $`\tau _{\text{GL}}=\pi \mathrm{}/8k(T_cT)`$ of the time-dependent GL theory, with $`T_c`$ being the mean field critical temperature of the wire (or of the bridge, as in our discussions below). The factor $`\left(\mathrm{\Delta }F/kT\right)^{1/2}`$ provides a correction for the overlap of fluctuations at different places of the wire and the factor $`L/\xi (T)`$ gives the number of statistically independent regions in the wiremccumber\_halperin . The free energy barrier for a single phase slip is given langer\_ambegaokar ; tinkham\_lau  by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }F=\frac{8\sqrt{2}}{3}\frac{H_c^2(T)}{8\pi }A\xi (T),$$
(3)
which is essentially the condensation energy density $`H_c^2(T)/8\pi `$ multiplied by the effective volume $`8\sqrt{2}A\xi (T)/3`$ of a phase slip ($`A`$ is the cross-section area of the wire).

A bias current $`I`$ causes a non-zero voltage (time averaged) given by

$$V=\frac{\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }(T)}{e}e^{\mathrm{\Delta }F/kT}\mathrm{sinh}(I/I_0)$$
(4)
where $`I_0=4ekT/h`$ ($`I_0=13.3`$ nA at $`T=1`$ K). Differentiation of this expression with respect to the bias current $`I`$ gives the differential resistance

$$dV/dI=\frac{\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }(T)}{eI_0}e^{\mathrm{\Delta }F/kT}\mathrm{cosh}(I/I_0)$$
(5)
The dependence of the attempt frequency and free energy on the bias current is neglected in this derivation. In the limit of low currents $`II_0`$, Ohm’s law is recovered

$$R_{\text{LAMH}}(T)=\frac{\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }(T)}{eI_0}e^{\mathrm{\Delta }F/kT}=R_q\left(\frac{\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }(T)}{kT}\right)e^{\mathrm{\Delta }F/kT}$$
(6)
where $`R_q=h/(2e)^2=6.5`$ k$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. In this approach the fluctuation resistance does not have any explicit dependence on the normal resistance of the wire.

## II Experimental Setup

The sample geometry is shown schematically in Fig. 1a. The fabrication is performed starting with a Si wafer covered with SiO2 and SiN films. A suspended SiN bridge is formed using electron beam lithography, reactive ion etching, and HF wet etching.bezryadinJVST  The bridge and the entire substrate are then sputter-coated with amorphous Mo79Ge21 superconducting alloy, topped with a $`2`$ nm overlayer of Si for protectionsputter . The resulting bridges are $`100`$ nm long with a minimum width $`w`$ 13-28 nm as measured with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) (Fig. 1b). All samples are listed in Table I.

Transport measurements are performed in a pumped 4He cryostat equipped with a set of rf-filtered leads. The linear resistance $`R(T)`$ is determined from the low-bias slope (the bias current is in the range of 1-10 nA) of the voltage versus current curves. The high-bias differential resistance is measured using an ac excitation on top of a dc current offset generated by a low-distortion function generator (SRS-DS360) connected in series with a 1 M$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ resistor. One sample was measured down to the m$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ level using a low temperature transformer manufactured by Cambridge Magnetic Refrigeration.

## III Results

First we compare a sample with a hyperbolic constriction (“bridge sample”) with a reference sample, which is a plain MoGe film of the same thickness, without any constriction (“film sample”). Both are fabricated on the same substrate simultaneously. A resistive transition measured on the film sample is shown in Fig. 2. The HN fit generated by Eq. (1) is shown as a solid line and exhibits a good agreement with the data, yielding a BKT transition temperature of $`T_{\text{BKT}}=4.8`$ K and the mean field critical temperature $`T_{c0}=4.91`$ K. Such good fit suggests that the transition observed in the banks might be the BKT transition, although a more extensive set of experiments is necessary in order to prove this assumption rigorously. As expected, $`T_{\text{BKT}}`$ is slightly lower than $`T_{c0}`$. The inset of Fig. 2 compares the $`R(T)`$ measurements of the “film” (open circles) and the “bridge” (solid line) samples. At $`T=4.8`$ K the $`R(T)`$ curve for the film sample crosses the $`R=0`$ axis with a nonzero (and large) slope, in agreement with the behavior predicted by the HN resistance equation (1). Nevertheless, unlike the film sample, the bridge sample shows a non-zero resistance even below the BKT transition temperature predicted by Eq. (1). Such resistive tails, occurring at $`T<T_{\text{BKT}}`$, have been found in all samples with constrictions.

In Fig. 3 the $`R(T)`$ curves for five samples with bridges are plotted in a log-linear format. The resistance of sample B1 has been measured down to the m$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ range using a low temperature transformer. Two resistive transitions are seen in each curve as the temperature decreases. The first transition is the superconducting transition in the thin film banks adjacent to the bridge. The second transition corresponds to the resistive tail mentioned above. In order to understand the origin of the second transition it should be compared to the LAMH theory.

## IV Discussion

Below we analyze the resistive tails found on samples with constrictions and demonstrate that they are caused by the phase slip events localized on the bridges and behave independently of the adjacent thin film banks. The analysis indicates that no BKT (no vortex-antivortex binding within the constrictions) or any other type of transition occurs on the constrictions and that the phase slips and anti-phase-slips are unpaired at any nonzero temperature due to thermal fluctuations. This is demonstrated below by fitting the $`R(T)`$ curves with the LAMH-like fitting curves.

### IV.1 LAMH attempt frequency for a short bridge

In order to compare our results to the LAMH we have to take into account the small length of the bridge, which does not allow more than one phase slip at a give time. Therefore the attempt frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }(T)`$ of Eq. (2) can be simplified. First, it has a term $`L/\xi (T)`$ that accounts for the number of independent sites where a phase slip can occur mccumber\_halperin . Since each of our samples has only one narrow region where phase slip events can happen, we take $`L/\xi (T)=1`$. Second, the coefficient $`(\mathrm{\Delta }F/kT)^{1/2}`$ which takes into account possible overlaps of phase slips at different places along the wiremccumber\_halperin  is taken to be unity also. This is because for short hyperbolic bridges (not much longer than the coherence length) it is reasonable to expect that there is only one spot, i.e. the narrowest point of the bridge, where phase slips occur. As a result, we obtain the attempt frequency for a short hyperbolic bridge $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\text{WL}}=1/\tau _{\text{GL}}`$ (the abbreviation “WL” stands for “weak link”). This attempt frequency can be combined with the usual form of the LAMH resistance in Eq. (6) and can be used to fit the experimental $`R(T)`$ curves (below the resistive transition of the films). Although such fits follow the data very well, there is one inconsistency that is they require the critical temperature of the bridge to be chosen higher than the critical temperature of the films, which is unphysical for such system. We attempt to modify the pre-exponential factor in order to resolve this inconsistency, as discussed below.

### IV.2 Modification of the prefactor

Since the exact expression is unknown, we approximate the resistance of a constriction (weak link) as

$$R_{\text{WL}}(T)=R_Ne^{\mathrm{\Delta }F_{\text{WL}}/kT}.$$
(7)
The exponential factor here is that of the LAMH theory and the prefactor is simply the normal resistance of the bridge. This expression (Eq. (7)) can be justified by the following argument: the duration of a single phase slip (i.e. the time it takes for the order parameter to recover) is $`\tau _{\text{GL}}`$ and the number of phase slips occurring per second is $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\text{WL}}(T)\text{exp}\left[\mathrm{\Delta }F(T)/kT\right]`$, with the attempt frequency being the inverse GL relaxation time $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\text{WL}}=1/\tau _{\text{GL}}`$, as was argued above. Therefore the time fraction during which the constriction is experiencing a phase slip (i.e. when superconductivity is suppressed on the bridge) is the product of these two values, i.e. $`f=(\tau _{\text{GL}})(1/\tau _{\text{GL}})\text{exp}\left[\mathrm{\Delta }F(T)/kT\right]=\text{exp}\left[\mathrm{\Delta }F(T)/kT\right]`$. Following Little,little  it can be assumed that the bridge has the normal resistance $`R_N`$ during the time when a phase slip is present (i.e. when the bridge is in the normal state), and the resistance is zero otherwise (when there is no phase slip). Thus we arrive at the averaged resistance for a bridge or a small size weak link $`R_{WL}=f\times R_N+(1f)\times 0=R_N\text{exp}\left[\mathrm{\Delta }F/kT\right]`$ as in Eq. (7). Note that unlike in the LAMH theory, in the present formulation the fluctuation resistance is directly linked to to the normal state resistance of the sample.

In order to compare Eq. (7) to the experimental results, an explicit expression for the energy barrier $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_{\text{WL}}`$ for a phase slip localized on the bridge is required. Starting with the usual formtinkham\_lau  derived for a long 1D wire and some well known results from BCS and GL theory,tinkham\_text ; tinkham\_lau  we find that $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_{\text{WL}}(0)=(8\sqrt{2}/3)(H_c^2(0)/8\pi )A\xi (0)=0.83kT_cR_qL/R_N\xi (0)`$ where $`L`$ is the length of the wire. Using $`R_N=\rho _nL/A`$, the free energy barrier for a weak link is

$$\mathrm{\Delta }F_{\text{WL}}(0)=0.83kT_c\frac{\beta wdR_q}{\rho _n\xi (0)}$$
(8)
where $`w`$ is the width of the bridge, $`d`$ is the film thickness, $`\rho _n`$ is the normal resistivity, and $`A=wd`$. The parameter $`\beta `$ measures the ratio of the phase slip length along the bridge to the effective length of a phase slip in a 1D wire, which is equal to $`8\sqrt{2}\xi (T)/3`$. Finally, assuming the same temperature dependence of the barrier as in the LAMH theory, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }F(T)=\mathrm{\Delta }F(0)(1T/T_c)^{3/2}`$, we arrive at the expression for the bridge fluctuation-induced resistance:

$$R_{\text{WL}}(T)=R_N\text{exp}\left[0.83\frac{\beta wdR_q}{\rho _n\xi (0)}\left(1\frac{T}{T_c}\right)^{3/2}\frac{T_c}{T}\right].$$
(9)
The fits generated by Eq. (9) are shown in Fig. 3 as solid lines. An impressively good agreement is found for all five samples. In particular, sample B1 measured using the low-temperature transformer, shows an agreement with the predicted resistance $`R_{\text{WL}}`$ over about seven orders of magnitude, down to a temperature that is more than two times lower compared to the critical temperature of the sample. Only two fitting parameters are used: $`\beta `$ and $`T_c`$ (listed in Table 1). The other parameters required in Eq. (9), including $`R_N`$, $`d`$, $`w`$, $`\xi (0)`$, and $`\rho _n180`$ $`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$ cm are known.bezryadin\_etal ; tinkham\_lau ; lau\_etal  The fits give quite reasonable values for the critical temperature of the bridges, in the sense that they are slightly lower than the corresponding critical temperatures of thin films of the same thickness, as expected. This fact supports the validity of Eq. (7). Such good agreement also indicates that the dissipation in a thin film with a constriction at $`T<T_{\text{BKT}}`$ is solely due to thermal activation of phase slips on constrictions. As expected, $`\beta 1`$ for all samples and the larger $`\beta `$ values are found on wider constrictions.

### IV.3 Determination of the linear resistance from high bias current measurements

We now discuss the non-linear properties of films with constrictions. Measurements of the differential resistance versus bias current, $`dV/dI`$ vs. $`I`$, are plotted in Fig. 4 on log-linear scale. Using these results it is possible to distinguish between the BKT mechanism, which leads to a power-law $`V(I)`$ dependence, and the phase slippage process, which is characterized by an exponential $`V(I)`$ dependence (Eqs. (4) and (5)). From Fig. 4 it is clear that at $`T<T_{\text{BKT}}`$ and sufficiently low currents the dependence of the differential resistance on bias current is exponential (it appears linear on the log-linear plots). Thus it is appropriate to compare the results with the LAMH theory. Equation (5) can be written as $`dV/dI=R(T)\mathrm{cosh}(I/I_0)`$, where $`R(T)`$ is the temperature-dependent zero-bias resistance. Using this relation, we fit the differential resistance data and use $`R(T)`$ as a fitting parameter, as shown in Fig. 4 by solid lines, each corresponding to a fixed temperature.i0  The fitting procedure illustrated in Fig. 4 gives us a powerful indirect method of determination of the zero-bias resistance (it is implicitly assumed that the ratio of the rates of thermally activated and quantum phase slips (if any) is independent of the bias current). This method is useful when the temperature is low and the resistance of the sample is below the resolution limit of the experimental setup. Thus, by fitting the $`dV(I)/dI`$ curves, we obtained the zero-bias resistance $`R(T)`$ down to very low values ($`10^8`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$). This method was systematically applied on sample B2 and the results are shown in Fig. 5 as solid squares. The open circles in Fig. 5 represent the zero-bias resistance obtained by direct measurements at low bias currents. The two sets of data are consistent with each other. The solid curve in Fig. 5 is a $`R_{\text{WL}}`$ fit obtained using Eq. (9). An excellent agreement is seen in a wide range of resistances spanning eleven orders of magnitude. This re-confirms that the thermally activated phase slip mechanism is dominant in the bridge samplesnanowire\_also  for $`T<T_{\text{BKT}}`$. We emphasize that the critical temperature of the bridge, which is used as an adjustable parameter, is found to be $`T_c=4.81`$ K. As expected, the $`T_c`$ of the bridge is slightly lower than the critical temperature of the film electrodes $`T_{c0}=4.91`$ K.

The usual LAMH expression $`R_{\text{LAMH}}`$ (Eq. (6)), which applies to thin superconducting wires, tinkham\_lau ; lau\_etal ; rogachev\_bezryadin ; bezryadin\_etal  can also be used to fit our data. The overall shape of the fitting curve (dashed curve in Fig. 5) agrees with the data as well as with the $`R_{\text{WL}}`$ fit. The drawback of the usual LAMH formula is that the critical temperature of the bridge, which is used as an adjustable parameter, turns out considerably higher than the film transition temperature. For example, the dashed line fit in Fig. 5 is generated using $`T_c=5.38`$ K which is larger than the film critical temperature $`T_{c0}=4.91`$ K. This apparent enhancement of the critical temperature of the bridge must be an artifact, because a reduction of the dimensions of MoGe samples always leads to a reduction of the critical temperature.Oreg  On the other hand, the $`T_c`$ extracted from the fits made using Eq. (9) are almost equal and slightly lower than the film $`T_{c0}`$ (Table I), as expected.

A rapid decrease of the LAMH resistance at temperatures very close to the critical temperature reflects the behavior of the LAMH attempt frequency which approaches zero as $`TT_c`$. The LAMH resistance is proportional to the attempt frequency so we observe $`R0`$ as $`TT_c`$ (dashed curve in Fig. 5 ). Such behavior is unphysical and occurs since the LAMH theory is not applicable very near $`T_c`$. It should be emphasized that some of our measured bridges are wider than $`\xi (0)`$, yet the thermally activated phase slip model agrees well with the data. This is in agreement with the prediction (Ref. langer\_ambegaokar, , p. 510) that superconducting channels of width $`w4.4\xi (T)`$ should exhibit a 1D behavior, i.e. nucleation of vortices is unfavorable in such channels. Such condition is true for all of our samples.

## V Summary

Fluctuation effects in thin films interrupted by “hyperbolic” constrictions is studied. The measurements show two separate resistive transitions. The higher-temperature transition shows some properties of a BKT transition in the films (follows the HN formulae). The second apparent resistive transition is explained by a continuous reduction of the rate of thermally activated phase slips with decreasing temperature. A quantitative description of the fluctuation resistance of narrow and short superconducting constrictions is achieved. For this purpose we have modify the LAMH expression for the resistance of a one-dimensional nanowire. An indirect method that enables us to trace the resistance variation over eleven orders of magnitude is suggested, based on the analysis of the nonlinear effects occurring at high bias currents. The phase slippage model is found applicable in the entire range of measured resistances, suggesting that quantum phase slipslau\_etal  do not occur in this samples, in the studied temperature interval, which extends below $`T_c/2`$ for one sample (B1)).

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank P. Goldbart and M. Fisher for suggestions. This work was supported by the NSF carrier Grant No. DMR-01-34770, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Center for Microanalysis of Materials (UIUC), which is partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Grant No. DEFG02-91-ER45439. S. L. C. thanks the support of NSF Grant No. PHY-0243675.


text:
# Fluctuation Theorem in Rachet System

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Since the discovery by Evans.et.al., Fluctuation Theorem(FT) has been studied in many situations, both stochastic,, and deterministic, though systems and interpretations differ, FT has a universal form :

$$\frac{Prob(\mathrm{\Delta }S=A)}{Prob(\mathrm{\Delta }S=A)}e^{\mathrm{\Delta }S}$$
(1)
here, $`\mathrm{\Delta }S`$ is the entropy generated, and $`Prob(\mathrm{\Delta }S=A)`$ is the probability for $`\mathrm{\Delta }S=A`$. It is interesting that FT kind relation universally holds, but its direct experimental application is not known.(Though Jarzynski equality is closely related to FT and has been used in the experiment, this equality is not FT itself, in this sense application of Jarzynsky equality is not direct.) So, we would like to derive FT for rachet system, because it relates biological physics, and direct application of FT is expected. The analysis is based on Langevin treatment. Kurchan showed that for Langevin system, if the initial state is Gibbsian, FT holds generally. Though we consider Langevin treatment, the result does not depend on the initial condition and in this sense our interest is different from that of Kurchan.

## 2 RACHET SYSTEM

In this paper we consider the rachet system, namely a particle on a periodic potential $`V(x+L)=V(x)`$ is dragged by a constant load force $`F`$. Then, the effective potential the particle feels is $`V_{eff}V(x)xF`$. If, the potential barrier is high enough, the particle can be considerd to be almost at equilibrium and may satisfy the detailed balance relation. Indeed, the quantitative argument is given in the review by Reimann. We summarize the work by Reimann.

We consider a system that a particle on a periodic potential(period $`L`$) is dragged by a constant load force $`F`$. The motion of this particle can be described by the Langevin eq. :

$`\eta {\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}x(t)=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dx}}V_{eff}(x)+\xi (t)`$
$`V_{eff}(x)`$ $`V(x)Fx`$
$`\xi (t)\xi (s)=`$ $`\sqrt{2\eta k_BT}\delta (ts)`$
The corresponding Fokker-Planck equation becomes :

$$\frac{}{t}P(x,t)=\frac{}{x}(\frac{dV_{eff}}{dx}\frac{1}{\eta }+\frac{k_BT}{\eta }\frac{}{x})P(x,t)=\frac{}{x}J(x,t)$$
(2)
Here, $`J(x,t)`$ is the probability current. Then at a steady state, the reduced probability current :

$$\widehat{J}(x,t)\mathrm{\Sigma }_{n=\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}J(x+nL,t)$$
(3)
becomes :

$`\widehat{J}^{st}=`$ $`N(1e^{\frac{FL}{k_BT}})`$
$`N=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{k_BT}{\eta }}({\displaystyle _0^L}𝑑x{\displaystyle _x^{x+L}}𝑑ye^{\frac{V_{eff}(y)V_{eff}(x)}{k_BT}})^1`$ (4)
If in each period $`L`$ there exists one minimum $`x_{min}`$ and one maximum $`x_{max}`$, and the system is in the weak noise regime $`k_BT\mathrm{\Delta }V_{eff}V_{eff}(x_{max})V_{eff}(x_{min})`$, the saddle point approximation gives the following probability current :

$`\widehat{J}^{st}=`$ $`k_+k_{}`$
$`k_+=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\frac{d^2}{dx^2}V_{eff}(x_{max})\frac{d^2}{dx^2}V_{eff}(x_{min})^{\frac{1}{2}}}{2\pi \eta }}e^{\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }V_{eff}}{k_BT}}`$
$`k_{}=`$ $`k_+e^{\frac{FL}{k_BT}}`$ (5)
Here, $`k_+`$ and $`k_{}`$ are the Kramers escape rate, the probability per unit time for a particle near a potential minimum escape to the right minimum and left minimum respectively. These $`k_+`$ and $`k_{}`$ satisfy the detaled balance relation.

$$\frac{k_+}{k_{}}=e^{\frac{FL}{k_BT}}$$
(6)
## 3 DERIVATION OF STEADY STATE FLUCTUATION THEOREM

Because of the assumption $`k_BT\mathrm{\Delta }V_{eff}`$, we can describe the motion of a particle in terms of biased random walk. Namely, it is sufficient to observe only the local minmum of effective potential and on what minimum the particle (approximately) exists at each discrete time $`t=0,\tau ,2\tau ,\mathrm{}`$. It is natural to assume that a particle hops only to the nearest-neighbor local minima : to the right minimum with probability $`k_+`$ , to the left minimum with $`k_{}`$, and it does not move with probability $`1(k_++k_{})`$.

Then the motion of a particle follows the biased random walk. A particle hops to right, left, and remains with probabilities $`k_+`$, $`k_{}`$, and $`1(k_++k_{})`$.

Next we consider the probability $`\pi _n(k)`$ which is the probability that after n unit time, particle moves k toward right. Here, we can show the equation:

$$\frac{\pi _n(k)}{\pi _n(k)}=(\frac{k_+}{k_{}})^k$$
(7)
One can prove this equation via following one to one correspondence.: Consider any process that causes the movement k after n unit time. The process is constituted by movements : $`k+l`$ times toward right, $`l`$ times toward left, and $`nk2l`$ times remaining. This process occurs with probability

$$\frac{n!}{(k+l)!l!(nk2l)!}k_+^{k+l}k_{}^l(1k_+k_{})^{nk2l}$$
(8)
The corresponding opposite process : $`l`$ times toward right, $`k+l`$ times toward left, and $`nk2l`$ times remaining. This process occurs with probability

$$\frac{n!}{(k+l)!l!(nk2l)!}k_+^lk_{}^{k+l}(1k_+k_{})^{nk2l}$$
(9)
So, the ratio of the probability that these two opposite processes occurs is $`(\frac{k_+}{k_{}})^k`$. This is valid for any $`l`$, and the equation is derived.

Then we substitute the detaled balance relation for Kramers escape rate $`\frac{k_+}{k_{}}=e^{\frac{FL}{k_BT}}`$ into the above equation, we obtain following expression:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\pi _n(k)}{\pi _n(k)}}=e^{\frac{FLk}{k_BT}}`$ (10)
We define the entropy generated $`\mathrm{\Delta }S\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }Q}{k_BT}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }Q=FLk`$ is the Joule heat. $`\mathrm{\Delta }S`$ can be considered as the entropy generated, since the work done on the system extenally will be entirely dissipated, and there are no contribution to the internal energy. Finally, we take the continuous limit, $`nt,Lkx`$, we obtain the steady state Fluctuation Theorem:

$$\frac{\pi _t(\mathrm{\Delta }S)}{\pi _t(\mathrm{\Delta }S)}=e^{\mathrm{\Delta }S}$$
(11)
## 4 DISCUSSION

FT for rachet system is derived. FT derived here is applicable to any system which obeys a biased random walk and satisfies the detailed balance relation.

Especially, a complete example was recently given by Nishiyama.et.al. They performed an experiment where a single kinesin externally forced moves along a microtuble obeying a biased random walk with regular $`8nm`$ steps. And they measured the ratio of the forward to backward movements at each load force $`19pN`$, the result well agrees with the detailed balance relation. FT derived in this letter would therefore valid for this system.

Because the derivation of FT consists of two parts, identity (6) and detailed balance relation, there is the possibility that under some condition detailed balance does not hold and FT should be modified. This modification of FT is an open problem.

## 5 Acknowledgement

The author is grateful to Professor P.Gaspard, and Professor S.Tasaki for fruitful discussions.


text:
# 1 𝑎³ℰ_𝜃⁽⁰⁾(𝑎) as a function of 𝜃 for a massless field in (3+1) dimensions.

## Acknowledgments

F.A.B. is supported by FAPERJ. R.M.C. is supported by CNPq. C.F. is partially supported by CNPq.