| In a normal conductor, for a continuous current flow, a constant electric field E has to be maintained. In the case of a superconductor, an applied electric field produces a normal current and accelerates the superfluid. This acceleration phase lasts for only a brief period until the superconductivity is destroyed or phase-slip processes set in.;This work provided a clear time-domain confirmation of the superfluid-acceleration phase. Fast pulsed signals were used to probe this regime that allowed the current and voltage signals, I(t) and V (t), to be correlated on a time scale of the order of 1 ns. Experiments were done on superconducting niobium films deposited, patterned, and measured here at University of South Carolina. The measured data agree well theoretical expectations. |
