Kinetic impedance and depairing in thin and narrow superconducting films

Abstract

We use both Eilenberger-Usadel and Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory to calculate the superfluid's temperature-dependent kinetic inductance for all currents up to the depairing current in thin and narrow superconducting films. The calculations apply to BCS weak-coupling superconductors with isotropic gaps and transport mean-free paths much less than the BCS coherence length. The kinetic inductance is calculated for the response to a small alternating current when the film is carrying a dc bias current. In the slow-experiment/fast-relaxation limit, in which the superconducting order parameter quasistatically follows the time-dependent current, the kinetic inductance diverges as the bias current approaches the depairing value. However, in the fast-experiment/slow-relaxiation limit, in which the the superconducting order parameter remains fixed at a value corresponding to the dc bias current, the kinetic inductance rises to a finite value at the depairing current. We then use time-dependent GL theory to calculate the kinetic impedance of the superfluid, which includes not only the kinetic reactance but also the kinetic resistance of the superfluid arising from dissipation due to order-parameter relaxation. The kinetic resistance is largest for angular frequencies $\omega$ obeying $\omega \tau_s > 1$, where $\tau_s$ is the order-parameter relaxation time, and for bias currents close to the depairing current. We also include the normal fluid's contribution to dissipation in deriving an expression for the total kinetic impedance. The Appendices contain many details about the temperature-dependent behavior of superconductors carrying current up to the depairing value.