The magnetic-field-tuned quantum superconductor-insulator transitions of disordered amorphous indium oxide films are a paradigm in the study of quantum phase transitions and exhibit power-law scaling behavior. For superconducting indium oxide films with low disorder, such as the ones reported on here, the high-field state appears to be a quantum-corrected metal. Resistance data across the superconductor-metal transition in these films are shown here to obey an activated scaling form appropriate to a quantum phase transition controlled by an infinite-randomness fixed point in the universality class of the random transverse-field Ising model. Collapse of the field-dependent resistance vs temperature data is obtained using an activated scaling form appropriate to this universality class, using values determined through a modified form of power-law scaling analysis. This exotic behavior of films exhibiting a superconductor-metal transition is caused by the dissipative dynamics of superconducting rare regions immersed in a metallic matrix, as predicted by a recent renormalization group theory. The smeared crossing points of isotherms observed are due to corrections to scaling which are expected near an infinite-randomness critical point, where the inverse disorder strength acts as an irrelevant scaling variable.
- Amorphous films,
- Group theory,
- Indium compounds,
- Ising model,
- Lattice vibrations,
- Metals,
- Phase transitions,
- Quantum theory,
- Random processes,
- Statistical mechanics,
- Superconducting films,
- Thin films, Amorphous indium-oxide,
- Amorphous thin films,
- Dissipative dynamics,
- Power-law scaling behaviors,
- Quantum phase transitions,
- Renormalization group theory,
- Superconductor insulator transitions,
- Transverse-field Ising model, Oxide films
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/thomas-vojta/147/