Subharmonic Shapiro steps and noise in high-T c superconductor Josephson junctions

An experimental investigation is made of the subharmonic Shapiro steps observed on the I-V curves of high-T _c superconductor Josephson junctions and on the bias-voltage dependences of the rf noise and detector response when the junctions are subjected to external submillimeter radiation. Structures of this type are ordinarily described by a nonsinusoidal current-phase relation, which is why subharmonic steps appear. Numerical modeling of the processes occurring in a Josephson junction by means of a simple current-phase relation, as in the case of an SNS junction, gives good agreement with experiment. The width of the characteristic Josephson generation line of the junction was estimated on the basis of the noise dependences and the selective detector response. The width can be explained by taking into account the shot noise of the tunneling component of the conductivity. A model of the conductivity of a high-T _c superconductor Josephson junction, consisting of a tunnel junction with microshorts possessing metallic conductivity, is discussed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 68, No. 5, 426–430 (10 September 1998)     

微波场中Josephson结的微波发射与吸收研究

采用数值仿真方法,研究微波场中约瑟夫森结微波感应台阶处的功率特性。发现微波场中约瑟夫森结不止吸收辐射,也发射辐射的情况。得到微波辐照和结电阻对功率吸收和发射的影响规律。结果表明,处于发射功率的状态对应的偏置电流范围占整个台阶总电流范围的比例可以趋于50%。这一发现对约瑟夫森结理论和应用研究具有重要的意义。     

嵌入到Fabry-Perot谐振腔的双晶约瑟夫森结阵列的阻抗匹配和相位锁定研究

在He等人所做的嵌入到Fabry-Perot谐振腔中约瑟夫森结阵列的微波辐照研究基础上,提出了同时实现约瑟夫森结阵列阻抗匹配和相位锁定的方法,进行了相关的电磁仿真和数值计算.双晶约瑟夫森结阵列被制作在YSZ双晶基片上,同时被嵌入到Fabry-Perot谐振腔内.通过在基片上制作与结阵列集成的串联馈电半波偶极天线阵,并对其结构进行优化实现了结与天线的匹配,数值计算表明结的辐射效率达到94%;利用天线阵辐射场的特征和对模型合理的设计,使Fabry-Perot谐振腔和基片同时谐振在合适的模式下,从而使结阵列与谐 关键词： 约瑟夫森结阵列 阻抗匹配 相位锁定 Fabry-Perot谐振腔     

REDUCED QUANTUM FLUCTUATION IN MESOSCOPIC JOSEPHSON JUNCTION WITH SCHR?DINGER-CAT STATE FIELD

We consider the system of a mesoscopic Josephson junction interacting with a quantized radiation field and investigate the fluctuation properties of the junction variables with time evolution. Our results show that, due to the quantum entanglement between the field and junction, the mesoscopic Josephson junction subsystem can exhibit squeezing behavior.     

A microwave photon detector

The possibility of the implementation of a single-photon detector in the microwave range has been discussed. It has been shown that, for these purposes, it is possible to use an unshunted Josephson junction, which is switched from the superconducting state into a finite-voltage state at the presence of an external signal. The sensitivity of this detector is determined by the distribution of switchings in the absence of an external signal. It has been demonstrated that there is a Josephson junction with a noise temperature below 60 mK at a nominal external temperature of 10 mK. A specific detector intended for the measurement of external microwave signals has been proposed, designed, and fabricated. The first experimental results have been presented.     

Effect of Cherenkov dissipation on vortex velocity in a waveguide-coupled Josephson junction

A motion of slow and fast vortices in a waveguide-coupled Josephson junction induced by a transport current flowing through the entire structure is studied; the coupling is not assumed to be weak. For a fast vortex, conditions are established under which current oscillations due to energy dissipation via Cherenkov radiation of Swihart waves become comparable to the current compensating for ohmic losses in the Josephson junction, waveguide, and adjacent superconductors. For a slow vortex, it is proved that intermediate and strong couplings of the Josephson junction to the waveguide shift current oscillations to the velocity range below the Swihart velocity of the Josephson junction.     

Simulation and measurement of millimeter-wave radiation from Josephson junction array

We report the circuit simulations and experiments of millimeter-wave radiation from a high temperature superconducting(HTS) bicrystal Josephson junction(BJJ) array. To study the effects of junction characteristic parameters on radiation properties, new radiation circuit models are proposed in this paper. The series resistively and capacitively shunted junction(RCSJ) models are packaged into a Josephson junction array(JJA) model in the simulation. The current-voltage characteristics(IVCs) curve and radiation peaks are simulated and analyzed by circuit models, which are also observed from the experiment at liquid nitrogen temperature. The experimental radiation linewidth and power are in good agreement with simulated results. The presented circuit models clearly demonstrate that the inconsistency of the JJA will cause a broad linewidth and a low detected power. The junction radiation properties are also investigated at the optimal situation by circuit simulation. The results further confirm that the consistent JJA characteristic parameters can successfully narrow the radiation linewidth and increase the power of junction radiation.     

嵌入Fabry-Perot谐振腔的高温超导双晶约瑟夫森结的毫米波辐照特性研究

采用嵌入Fabry-Perot谐振腔的方式,研究了Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8(Tl-2212)高温超导薄膜双晶约瑟夫森结的毫米波辐照特性.重点研究了双晶约瑟夫森结与Fabry-Perot谐振腔的耦合特性,发现放置在谐振腔中的结的位置、角度、结的图形以及Fabry-Perot谐振腔中两镜面间的距离等对耦合都有很大的影响.通过精细调节这些参数,可使双晶约瑟夫森结与外加毫米波达到最佳耦合.在最佳耦合情况下,能观察到9级明显的夏皮罗台阶.利用Fabry-Perot谐振腔技术,解决了约瑟夫森结与毫米波的耦合问题,为高温超导约瑟夫森结的毫米波及太赫兹波的辐射和检测研究奠定了基础.     

Wideband detection of the third moment of shot noise by a hysteretic Josephson junction

We use a hysteretic Josephson junction as an on-chip detector of the third moment of shot noise of a tunnel junction. The detectable bandwidth is determined by the plasma frequency of the detector, which is about 50 GHz in the present experiment. The third moment of shot noise results in a measurable change of the switching rate when reversing polarity of the current through the noise source. We analyze the observed asymmetry assuming adiabatic response of the detector.     

Microwave cooling of Josephson plasma oscillations

An extended Josephson junction can be described as a microwave cavity coupled to a Josephson oscillator. This is formally equivalent to a Fabry-Perot cavity with a freely vibrating mirror, where it has been shown that radiation pressure from photons in the cavity can reduce (increase) the vibrations of the mirror, effectively cooling (heating) it. We demonstrate that, similarly, the superconducting phase difference across a Josephson junction-the Josephson phase-can be "cooled" or "heated" by microwave excitation of the junction and that both these effects increase with microwave power.     

Nature of the microwave response of a YBaCuO Josephson junction on a bicrystalline substrate

The response of YBaCuO Josephson junctions on a bicrystalline substrate to the action of microwave radiation is found to contain, besides the Josephson response, a contribution associated with the tunneling of quasiparticles through channels formed by localized states in the region of the Josephson junction. It is shown that this contribution is associated with an increase in the conduction through these channels under the action of the radiation on the junction. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 6, 416–420 (25 September 1996)     

RF impedance of intrinsic Josephson junction in flux-flow state with a periodic pinning potential and its optimum condition for RF radiation

We reported dynamics of Josephson vortices interacting with electromagnetic waves in strongly coupled long Josephson junctions stack, such as an intrinsic Josephson junction (IJJ), by numerical simulations based on coupled sine-Gordon equations considering a periodic pinning potential of sinusoidal form. The numerical simulation results for the influence of the electromagnetic waves on flux-flow properties show that the periodic pinning potential induces an in-phase motion of Josephson vortices over the junction stacks, which achieve high performances of IJJ flux-flow oscillator. In order to prove it from another viewpoint, we calculate RF impedance of long Josephson junction stacks in flux-flow state. A remarkable negative real part region of RF impedance appears at 1st harmonic step, it means that the long Josephson junction stacks in flux-flow state acts as an oscillator at the negative real part region. In this study, we evaluate the optimum condition for RF radiation with the periodic pinning potential.     

The Influence of the McCumber Parameter on Parametric Amplification of High-Frequency Radiation by Josephson Junctions

The influence of the internal capacity of a Josephson junction on the parametric amplification of external electromagnetic radiation was studied in terms of a resistively and capacitively shunted junction model. The influence of the McCumber parameter on parametric amplification was clarified. It is shown that the additional regions of amplification can occur near subharmonic Shapiro steps in the case of Josephson junctions with internal capacity.     

Emission and absorption asymmetry in the quantum noise of a Josephson junction

We measure current fluctuations of mesoscopic devices in the quantum regime, when the frequency is of the order of or higher than the applied voltage or temperature. Detection is designed to probe separately the absorption and emission contributions of current fluctuations, i.e. the positive and negative frequencies of the Fourier transformed nonsymmetrized noise correlator. It relies on measuring the quasiparticles photon assisted tunneling current across a superconductor-insulator-superconductor junction (the detector junction) caused by the excess current fluctuations generated by quasiparticles tunneling across a Josephson junction (the source junction). We demonstrate unambiguously that the negative and positive frequency parts of the nonsymmetrized noise correlator are separately detected and that the excess current fluctuations of a voltage biased Josephson junction present a strong asymmetry between emission and absorption.     

SrTiO3基片上Tl-2212双晶约瑟夫森结的动态特性及噪声影响研究

在SrTiO₃（STO）基片上制作了Tl-2212双晶约瑟夫森结,并对其进行了微波辐照下的I-V特性测试,观察到了夏皮罗台阶,符合约瑟夫森电压-频率关系.利用数值仿真对约瑟夫森结建立了RCSJ模型,仿真结果与实验数据符合较好,利用此模型深入研究了噪声对结动态特性的影响,解释了噪声影响下结的微波感应台阶幅度减小和极小值展宽现象,提出了有效噪声温度为工作温度和外部噪声的等效温度之和. 关键词： RCSJ模型 噪声 Tl-2212双晶约瑟夫森结     

Stochastic dynamics of pulsed superhigh-frequency-driven Josephson junction

It is shown that under certain conditions the pulse-modulated superhigh-frequency (SHF) driven Josephson junction phase varies in a stochastic manner due to so-called “overlapping” of resonances. The broadening of Josephson radiation frequency has been calculated during the transient period.     

在一个磁通量子内dc Josephson电流阶梯或振荡效应的物理本质

本文分析了放置于高Q谐振腔中的Josephson结、双结SQUID和单结超导环,当其Josephson频率ω=2eV₀/h和腔的本征频率相等时,Josephson电流在一个磁通量子内可以产生多次阶梯或振荡的物理本质。指出对于Josephson结或双结SQUID,当ω=ω_r时,被激发起的腔的本征振荡将反馈辐照结或SQUID,反馈场的频率作用使Josephson电流产生一般地感应台阶;而反馈场的振幅是受到外磁场调制的,当这种调制作用使反馈场振幅的空间部分与辐射场的空间部分匹配时,则引起电流在一个磁通量子内产生一系列的新的阶跃。对单结超导环,当nω=ω_r时,被激发起的腔的振荡反馈辐照作用将迫使其超流电流产生周期小于φ₀的振荡。 关键词：     

高温超导约瑟夫森结阵列的相位锁定

根据交流约瑟夫森效应,研究了嵌入Fabry-Perot谐振腔里的约瑟夫森结阵列在微波辐照下的相位锁定问题。结阵列是由生长在双晶钇稳定氧化锆(YSZ)基片上的YB2Cu3O7(YBCO)超导薄膜光刻成微桥得到的。通过优化设计,在温度为79.2K辐照频率为77.465GHz的条件下,包含620个串联约瑟夫森双晶结的结阵列在外加微波辐照下实现了相位锁定,得到了陡峭的夏皮罗台阶。其第一级夏皮罗台阶的电压约为0.1V,台阶高度约为0.17mA。试验结果表明,这种结阵列结构在电压基准的应用上有极大的优势,而且这种准光学耦合方法在太赫兹信号发生和检测方面有很好的应用前景。     

Effect of inductive and capacitive coupling on the current–voltage characteristic and electromagnetic radiation from a system of Josephson junctions

We have studied the current–voltage characteristic of a system of long Josephson junctions taking into account the inductive and capacitive coupling. The dependence of the average time derivative of the phase difference on the bias current and spatiotemporal dependences of the phase difference and magnetic field in each junction are considered. The possibility of branching of the current–voltage characteristic in the region of zero field step, which is associated with different numbers of fluxons in individual Josephson junctions, is demonstrated. The current–voltage characteristic of the system of Josephson junctions is compared with the case of a single junction, and it is shown that the observed branching is due to coupling between the junctions. The intensity of electromagnetic radiation associated with motion of fluxons is calculated, and the effect of coupling between junctions on the radiation power is analyzed.     

Terahertz spectroscopy with a Josephson oscillator and a SINIS bolometer

The voltage response of a thin-film normal-metal hot-electron bolometer based on a SINIS (superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor) structure to the radiation of a high-temperature Josephson junction in the terahertz frequency region was measured. Bolometers were integrated with planar log-periodic and double-dipole antennas, and Josephson junctions were integrated with log-periodic antennas. Measurements showed that the Josephson junction at a temperature of 260 mK was overheated by the transport current, so that its electron temperature exceeded 3 K at a bias voltage of 1 mV. The maximum response of a bolometer with a double-dipole antenna was observed at a frequency of 300 GHz, which agreed well with the calculated value. The Josephson radiation was observed at frequencies up to 1.7 THz. The voltage response of a bolometer reached 4×10⁸ V/W, and the total noise-equivalent power reached 1.5×10^?17 W/Hz^1/2.