CONVENER

Robert Shekhter (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

CO-CONVENER

Hee Chul Park (Pukyong National University, Korea)

MEMBERS

Amnon Aharony (Tel Aviv University, Israel)

Sang-Jun Choi (Weurtzburg University, Germany)

Ora Entin-Wohlman (Tel Aviv University, Israel)

Leonid Gorelik (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)

Jae-Ho Han (IBS, Korea)

Mats Jonson (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Chulki Kim (KIST, Korea)

Nojoon Myoung (Chosun University, Korea)

Anton Parafilo (IBS, Korea)

Sunghun Park (IBS, Korea)

Danko Radić (University of Zagreb, Croatia)

Junho Suh (KRISS, Korea)

Chang-Hwan Yi (IBS, Korea)

OVERVIEW

The present application aims to continue the research which has been conducted at the PCS during the last several years, within the framework of yearly ASG programs. The research has been focused on a theoretical study of electric weak links bridging different types of bulk electrodes, such as conducting, magnetic and superconducting ones. We have also emphasized our strong desire to establish a close collaboration with local (Korean) experimental groups, in order to explore the possibility to work together. Electronic and spin transport phenomena and the nanomechanical performance of the electric weak links constitute the mainstream of our research. We have discovered that mesoscopic physics, which becomes important for nanometer-sized electric weak links, crucially modifies the physics of electronic transport, making electronic charge and electronic spin the important factors in the new phenomena occurring on a nanometer length scale. The Coulomb blockade of the single-electron tunneling, Josephson coupling between the bulk superconductors, spin-dependent tunneling phenomena, and single-electron shuttling are just a few examples of mesoscopic functionality of electric weak links which have been in focus of our study. The main outcome of this research is our strong conviction that electric weak links of mesoscopic length may serve as functional structural elements of electrical circuit, i.e. be in many respects mesoscopic devices with their own active performance. That belief has become even stronger when new results, emphasizing the role of quantum coherence in the functioning of mesoscopic weak links, were obtained and published by us recently. Nanomechanical shuttling of Cooper pairs, spin polarization of Cooper pairs flowing through spin-orbit (SOI) active weak links, “interferometry” of the Aharonov-Casher phase in magnetotransport through the SOI-active weak link, generation of the nanomechanical CAT-states entangled with the superconducting Cooper pair box are just some of our results, which motivate us to continue our study of quantum functionality of mesoscopic weak links. This is suggested in the present application.

Topics include:

1. -Quantum nanomechanics of superconducting weak links
   

2. -Electronic spin- and charge-quantum performance of SOI-active electric weak links
   

3. -Fabrication and experimental study of nanomechanical superconducting and SOI-active weak links