The ballistic acceleration of a supercurrent in a superconductor

TL;DR

This paper reports the first direct time-domain measurement of the transient supercurrent growth in a superconductor, revealing a Newtonian-like response and enabling detailed study of time-dependent transport phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a measurement technique with sub-nanosecond accuracy to observe the transient supercurrent response in superconductors, a previously elusive phenomenon.

Findings

First clear time-domain measurement of supercurrent growth

Revealed Newtonian-like response in superconductor

Technique enables investigation of other transient phenomena

Abstract

One of the most primitive but elusive current-voltage (I-V) responses of a superconductor is when its supercurrent grows steadily after a voltage is first applied. The present work employed a measurement system that could simultaneously track and correlate I(t) and V(t) with sub-nanosecond timing accuracy, resulting in the first clear time-domain measurement of this transient phase where the quantum system displays a Newtonian like response. The technique opens doors for the controlled investigation of other time dependent transport phenomena in condensed-matter systems.