Temperature dependence of the resistance of a phase-slip line in a thin superconducting film

Abstract

An experimental investigation was made of the temperature dependence of the first step of a phase-slip line in a thin superconducting tin film. The depth of penetration of a nonequilibrium longitudinal electric field into the superconductor was determined near the critical temperature. A comparison was made with theoretical investigations of one-dimensional structures containing phase-slip centers. The experimental results were found to be in good agreement with the theory when the mechanism of mixing of electron-like and hole-like branches of the quasiparticle spectrum was governed by the elastic scattering of the excitations. This was one more experimental confirmation that a phase-slip line is a two-dimensional analog of a phase-slip center.