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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 89 » Issue 8
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 080603 (2002) [4 pages]

Zurek-Kibble Domain Structures: The Dynamics of Spontaneous Vortex Formation in Annular Josephson Tunnel Junctions

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R. Monaco1,*, J. Mygind2,†, and R. J. Rivers3,‡
1Istituto di Cibernetica del C.N.R., I-80078, Pozzuoli, Italy and Unita’ INFM–Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita’ di Salerno, I-84081 Baronissi, Italy
2Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, B309, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark
3U.K. Centre of Theoretical Physics, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ, United Kingdom

Received 18 December 2001; published 6 August 2002

Phase transitions create a domain structure with defects, which has been argued by Zurek and Kibble (ZK) to depend in a characteristic way on the quench rate. We present an experiment to measure the ZK scaling exponent σ. Using long symmetric Josephson tunnel junctions, for which the predicted index is σ=0.25, we find σ=0.27±0.05. Further, we agree with the ZK prediction for the overall normalization.

© 2002 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.080603
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.080603
PACS:
05.70.Fh, 11.10.Wx, 11.27.+d, 74.50.+r

*Electronic address: roberto@sa.infn.it

†Electronic address: myg@fysik.dtu.dk

‡Electronic address: r.rivers@ic.ac.uk

Permanent address: Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom.

 
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