Strong quantum interference in strongly disordered bosonic insulators.

We study the variable-range hopping of bosons in an array of sites with short-range interactions and a large characteristic coordination number. The latter leads to strong quantum interference phenomena yet allows for their analytical study. We develop a functional renormalization-group scheme that repeatedly eliminates high-energy sites properly renormalizing the tunneling between the low-energy ones. Using this approach we determine the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the hopping conductivity and find a large positive magnetoresistance. With increasing magnetic field the behavior of the conductivity crossovers from the Mott's law to an activational behavior with the activation gap proportional to the magnetic field.

Localization and critical diffusion of quantum dipoles in two dimensions.

We discuss quantum propagation of dipole excitations in two dimensions. This problem differs from the conventional Anderson localization due to the existence of long-range hops. We find that the critical wave functions of the dipoles always exist which manifest themselves by a scale independent diffusion constant. If the system is T invariant the states are critical for all values of the parameters. Otherwise, there can be a "metal-insulator" transition between this "ordinary" diffusion and the Levy flights (the diffusion constant logarithmically increasing with the scale). These results follow from the two-loop analysis of the modified nonlinear supermatrix σ model.

Coulomb interaction and first-order superconductor-insulator transition.

The superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) in regular arrays of Josephson junctions is studied at low temperatures. We derived an imaginary time Ginzburg-Landau-type action properly describing the Coulomb interaction. The renormalization group analysis at zero temperature T=0 in the space dimensionality d=3 shows that the SIT is always of the first order. At finite T, a tricritical point separates the lines of the first- and second-order phase transitions. The same conclusion holds for d=2 if the mutual capacitance is larger than the distance between junctions.

Exact bosonization for an interacting fermi gas in arbitrary dimensions.

We present an exact mapping of models of interacting fermions onto boson models. The bosons correspond to collective excitations in the initial fermionic models. This bosonization is applicable in any dimension and for any interaction between fermions. Introducing superfields, we derive a field theory that may serve as a new way of analytical study. We show schematically how the mapping can be used for Monte Carlo calculations and argue that it should be free from the sign problem.

dc conductivity of an array of Josephson junctions in the insulating state.

We consider microscopically low-temperature transport in weakly disordered arrays of Josephson junctions in the Coulomb blockade regime. We demonstrate that at sufficiently low temperatures the main contribution to the dc conductivity comes from the motion of single-Cooper-pair excitations, scattered by irregularities in the array. Being proportional to the concentration of the excitations, the conductivity is exponentially small in temperature with the activation energy close to the charging energy of a Cooper pair on a superconductive island. Applying a diagrammatic approach to treat the disorder potential we calculate the Drude-like conductivity and obtain weak localization corrections. At sufficiently low temperatures or strong disorder the Anderson localization of Cooper pairs ensues.

Hybridization of spin and plasma waves in Josephson tunnel junctions containing a ferromagnetic layer.

We study dynamics of tunnel Josephson junctions with a thin ferromagnetic layer F [superconductor-insulator-ferromagnet-superconductor (SIFS) junctions]. On the basis of derived equations relating the superconducting phase and magnetic moment to each other we analyze collective excitations in the system and find a new mode which is a hybrid of plasmalike and spin waves. The latter are coupled together in a broad range of parameters characterizing the system. Using the solution describing the collective modes we demonstrate that besides the Fiske steps new peaks appear on the I-V characteristics due to oscillations of the magnetic moment M in the ferromagnetic layer. Thus, by measuring the I-V curve of the SIFS junctions, one can extract information about the spectrum of spin excitations in the ferromagnet F.

Proximity effect and its enhancement by ferromagnetism in high-temperature superconductor-ferromagnet structures.

We consider a bilayer consisting of a d-wave layered superconductor and diffusive ferromagnet with a domain wall (DW). The c axis in the superconductor and DW in the ferromagnet are assumed to be perpendicular to the interface. We demonstrate that in such a heterostructure the inhomogeneous exchange field enhances the proximity effect. It is shown that, whereas in the absence of the exchange field the d-wave condensate decays in the normal metal on the mean free path l, the superconductivity penetrates the ferromagnet along the DW over much larger distances. This happens because the presence of the DW results in a generation of an odd-frequency triplet s-wave component of the condensate. The phenomenon discovered here may help to explain a recent experiment on high-temperature superconductor-ferromagnet bilayers.

Electromagnetic-field-induced suppression of transport through n-p junctions in graphene.

We study electronic transport through an n-p junction in graphene irradiated by an electromagnetic field (EF). In the absence of EF one may expect the perfect transmission of quasiparticles flowing perpendicular to the junction. We show that the resonant interaction of propagating quasiparticles with the EF induces a dynamic gap between electron and hole bands in the quasiparticle spectrum of graphene. In this case the strongly suppressed quasiparticle transmission is only possible due to interband tunneling. The effect may be used to control transport properties of diverse structures in graphene, e.g., n-p-n transistors and quantum dots, by variation of the intensity and frequency of the external radiation.

Quantum dots in graphene.

We suggest a way of confining quasiparticles by an external potential in a small region of a graphene strip. Transversal electron motion plays a crucial role in this confinement. Properties of thus obtained graphene quantum dots are investigated theoretically for different types of the boundary conditions at the edges of the strip. The (quasi)bound states exist in all systems considered. At the same time, the dependence of the conductance on the gate voltage carries information about the shape of the edges.

Effect of disorder on transport in graphene.

Quenched disorder in graphene is characterized by 5 constants and experiences the logarithmic renormalization even from the spatial scales smaller than the Fermi wavelength. We derive and solve renormalization group equations (RGEs) describing the system at such scales. At larger scales, we derive a nonlinear supermatrix sigma model completely describing localization and crossovers between different ensembles. The parameters of this sigma model are determined by the solutions of the RGEs.

Bosonization for disordered and chaotic systems.

Using a supersymmetry formalism, we reduce exactly the problem of electron motion in an external potential to a new supermatrix model valid at all distances. All approximate nonlinear sigma models obtained previously for disordered systems can be derived from our exact model using a coarse-graining procedure. As an example, we consider a model for a smooth disorder and demonstrate that using our approach does not lead to a "mode-locking" problem. As a new application, we consider scattering on strong impurities for which the Born approximation cannot be used. Our method provides a new calculational scheme for disordered and chaotic systems.

Transport properties of granular metals at low temperatures.

We investigate transport in a granular metallic system at large tunneling conductance between the grains, g(T)>>1. We show that at low temperatures, Tg(T)delta) behavior where conductivity is controlled by the scales of the order of the grain size. In three dimensions we predict the metal-insulator transition at the bare tunneling conductance g(C)(T)=(1/6pi)ln((E(C)/delta), where E(C) is the charging energy of a single grain. Corrections to the density of states of granular metals due to the electron-electron interaction are calculated. Our results compare favorably with the logarithmic dependence of resistivity in the high-T(c) cuprate superconductors indicating that these materials may have a granular structure.

Odd triplet superconductivity in superconductor-ferromagnet multilayered structures.

We demonstrate that in multilayered superconductor-ferromagnet structures a noncollinear alignment of the magnetizations of different ferromagnetic layers generates a triplet superconducting condensate which is odd in frequency. This triplet condensate coexists in the superconductors with the conventional singlet one but decays very slowly in the ferromagnet, which should lead to a large Josephson effect between the superconductors separated by the ferromagnet. Depending on the mutual direction of the ferromagnetic moments, the Josephson coupling can be both of 0 and of pi type.

Long-range proximity effects in superconductor-ferromagnet structures.

We analyze the proximity effect in a superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F) structure with a local inhomogeneity of the magnetization in the ferromagnet near the S/F interface. We demonstrate that not only the singlet but also the triplet component of the superconducting condensate is induced in the ferromagnet due to the proximity effect. The singlet component penetrates into the ferromagnet over a short length xi(h) = sqrt[D/h] ( h is the exchange field and D the diffusion coefficient), whereas the triplet component penetrates over a long length sqrt[D/epsilon] and leads to a significant increase of the ferromagnet conductance below the superconducting critical temperature Tc.

Enhancement of the Josephson current by an exchange field in superconductor-ferromagnet structures.

We calculate the dc Josephson current for two superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F) bilayers separated by a thin insulating film. It is demonstrated that the critical Josephson current I(c) in the junction strongly depends on the relative orientation of the effective exchange field h of the bilayers. We found that in the case of an antiparallel orientation I(c) increases at low temperatures with increasing h and at zero temperature has a singularity when h equals the superconducting gap Delta. This striking behavior contrasts with the suppression of the critical current by the magnetic moments aligned in parallel and is an interesting new effect of the interplay between superconductors and ferromagnets.