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Quantum phase transitions

Emergent inhomogeneity

Experiments with superconductor–graphene hybrids, a novel platform to study quantum phase transitions, suggest that in the proximity of the critical point between superconducting and insulating phases, inhomogeneity emerges at large scales even in apparently uniform disordered systems.

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Figure 1: The superconducting order parameter computed for a 50 × 50 array of identical superconducting grains with Josephson coupling close to the SIT.

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Correspondence to Michael E. Gershenson.

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Ioffe, L., Gershenson, M. Emergent inhomogeneity. Nature Mater 11, 567–568 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3341

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