Dissipation in quasi-one-dimensional superconducting single-crystal Sn nanowires

Electrical transport measurements were made on single-crystal Sn nanowires to understand the intrinsic dissipation mechanisms of a one-dimensional superconductor. While the resistance of wires of diameter larger than 70 nm drops precipitously to zero at T-c near 3.7 K, a residual resistive tail extending down to low temperature is found for wires with diameters of 20 and 40 nm. As a function of temperature, the logarithm of the residual resistance appears as two linear sections, one within a few tenths of a degree below T-c and the other extending down to at least 0.47 K, the minimum temperature of the measurements. The residual resistance is found to be ohmic at all temperatures below T-c of Sn. These findings are suggestive of a thermally activated phase slip process near T-c and quantum fluctuation-induced phase slip process in the low-temperature regime. When the excitation current exceeds a critical value, the voltage-current (V-I) characteristics show a series of discrete steps in approaching the normal state.