INFLUENCE OF MECHANISMS OF NONEQUILIBRIUM QUASI-PARTICLE SCATTERING ON THE PROPERTIES OF PHASE-SLIP CENTERS

Electrical characteristics of homogeneous superconducting tin films wi th phase-slip centers (PSC) and with structures of the superconductor- normal metal-superconductor (SNS) type are studied experimentally. It is found that near the superconducting transition temperature, elastic scattering of nonequilibrium quasiparticles can play a significant ro le in PSC by reducing the effective charge disbalance time, and hence the diffusion length for quasiparticles as compared to similar process es in the SNS structure. The application of an external electromagneti c field of frequency similar to 10(10) Hz in the vicinity of the super conducting transition temperature reduces the resistance of the SNS st ructure to zero, indicating a superconducting transition in the N regi on. An increase in the transport current results in the formation of t he first PSC just in this region. Non-Josephson oscillations appear in this region at certain temperatures, currents, and radiation power. ( C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1063-777X(98)00508-8].