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1. Superconducting phase transition in inhomogeneous chains of superconducting islands

   https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.134502  

   Eduard Ilin, Irina Burkova (October 2020, Physical review and Physical review letters index)

   We study one-dimensional chains of superconducting islands with a particular emphasis on the regime in which every second island is switched into its normal state, thus forming a superconductor-insulator-normal metal (S-I-N) repetition pattern. As is known since Giaever tunneling experiments, tunneling charge transport between a superconductor and a normal metal becomes exponentially suppressed, and zero-bias resistance diverges, as the temperature is reduced and the energy gap of the superconductor grows larger than the thermal energy. Here we demonstrate that this physical phenomenon strongly impacts transport properties of inhomogeneous superconductors made of weakly coupled islands with fluctuating values of the critical temperature. We observe a nonmonotonous dependence of the chain resistance on both temperature and magnetic field, with a pronounced resistance peak at temperatures at which some but not all islands are superconducting. We explain this phenomenon by the inhomogeneity of the chains, in which neighboring superconducting islands have slightly different critical temperatures. We argue that the Giaever’s resistance divergence can also occur in the zero-temperature limit. Such quantum transition can occur if the magnetic field is tuned such that it suppresses superconductivity in the islands with the weaker critical field, while the islands with stronger energy gap remain superconducting. In such a field, the system acts as a chain of S-I-N junctions. 

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2. Photoreactions Create Superconducting Materials

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10812-023-01577-9  

   Han, Yulun; Kilin, Dmitri (July 2023, Journal of Applied Spectroscopy)
3. Axion strings are superconducting

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2021)052  

   Fukuda, Hajime; Manohar, Aneesh V.; Murayama, Hitoshi; Telem, Ofri (June 2021, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   null (Ed.)

   A bstract We explore the cosmological consequences of the superconductivity of QCD axion strings. Axion strings can support a sizeable chiral electric current and charge density, which alters their early universe dynamics. We examine the possibility that shrinking axion string loops can become effectively stable remnants called vortons, supported by the repulsive electromagnetic force of the string current. We find that vortons in our scenario are generically unstable, and so do not pose a cosmological difficulty. Furthermore, if a primordial magnetic field (PMF) exists in the early universe, a large current is induced on axion strings, creating a significant drag force from interactions with the surrounding plasma. As a result, the strings are slowed down, which leads to an orders of magnitude enhancement in the number of strings per Hubble volume. Finally, we study potential implications for the QCD axion relic abundance. The QCD axion window is shifted by orders of magnitude in some parts of our parameter space. 

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4. Superconducting cavity electro-optics: A platform for coherent photon conversion between superconducting and photonic circuits

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aar4994  

   Fan, Linran; Zou, Chang-Ling; Cheng, Risheng; Guo, Xiang; Han, Xu; Gong, Zheng; Wang, Sihao; Tang, Hong X. (August 2018, Science Advances)
5. Anomalous charge noise in superconducting qubits

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.140503  

   Christensen, B. G.; Wilen, C. D.; Opremcak, A.; Nelson, J.; Schlenker, F.; Zimonick, C. H.; Faoro, L.; Ioffe, L. B.; Rosen, Y. J.; DuBois, J. L.; et al (October 2019, Physical Review B)