Contact: David Terraso
d.terraso@gatech.edu
404-385-2966
Georgia Institute of Technology

AC Josephson Effect Detects Mechanical Motion

Caption: Atomic-scale mechanical motions in nanowires can be excited by high-frequency alternating superconducting Josephson currents. In niobium dimer nanowires three vibrational modes were experimentally observed and identified through first-principles theoretical calculations. At top is a curve of the measured conductance plotted versus applied voltage showing a sequence of peaks corresponding to vibrational modes of the dimer of niobium atoms suspended between the left and right tip-electrodes, as depicted in the atomic configuration shown in the middle.

Credit: Georgia Tech/Alexei Marchenkov/Uzi Landman

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