Superconductor-insulator transition in a capacitively coupled dissipative environment

We present results on disordered amorphous films that are expected to undergo a field-tuned superconductor-insulator transition. The addition of a parallel ground plane in proximity to the film changes the character of the transition. Although the screening effects expected from “dirty-boson” theories are not evident, there is evidence that the ground plane couples a certain type of dissipation into the system, causing a dissipation-driven phase transition. The dissipation that drives this phase transition couples similarly into quantum phase transition systems, such as superconductor-insulator transitions and the Josephson junction arrays.