Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Electric-field Control of Electronic States in WS2 Nanodevices by Electrolyte Gating
Published on: April 12, 2018
Steps in the negative-differential-conductivity regime of a superconductor
M N Kunchur1, B I Ivlev, J M Knight
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA.
Abstract:
Current-voltage characteristics were measured in the mixed state of Y(1)Ba(2)Cu(3)O(7-delta) superconducting films in the regime where flux flow becomes unstable and the differential conductivity dj/dE becomes negative. Under conditions where its negative slope is steep, the j(E) curve develops a pronounced staircase-like pattern. We attribute the steps in j(E) to the formation of a dynamical phase consisting of the successive nucleation of quantized distortions in the local vortex velocity and flux distribution within the moving flux matter.
Related Concept Videos
Superconductor
Types Of Superconductors
Electrical Conductivity
In a practical conductor, an applied electric field may be sustained, causing a flow of electrons, which produce a current. The differential form of the current, the current density, is related to the electric field.
More generally, it is related to the force per unit charge, which involves the...
Theory of Metallic Conduction
In this theory, Newton's second law of motion is used to determine the acceleration of an electron in the presence of an applied electric field. Then, its velocity is expressed via this acceleration.
An electron moves through the crystal, containing positive ions,...
Semiconductors
Metals such as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), or lead (Pb) have low resistivity and feature conduction bands that are either not fully occupied or overlap with the valence band, making a bandgap non-existent. This allows electrons in the highest energy levels of the valence band to easily transition to the conduction band upon gaining...
Debye–Huckel–Onsager Conductance Equation

