Radiation from a single Josephson junction into free space due to Josephson oscillations

We consider electromagnetic emission from a Josephson junction (JJ) in a resistive state in an external magnetic field and derive the radiation power from the dielectric layer inside a JJ directly into outside dielectric media. Matching the electric and magnetic fields at the JJ edges, we find dynamic boundary conditions for the phase difference in JJ. We find that the fraction of the power transformed into radiation is determined by the dissipation inside the JJ. It tends to unity as dissipation vanishes independently of the mismatch of the junction and dielectric media impedances.     

Quantum coherence in a superfluid Josephson junction

We report a new kind of experiment in which we take an array of nanoscale apertures that form a superfluid (4)He Josephson junction and apply quantum phase gradients directly along the array. We observe collective coherent behaviors from aperture elements, leading to quantum interference. Connections to superconducting and Bose-Einstein condensate Josephson junctions as well as phase coherence among the superfluid aperture array are discussed.     

Josephson effect in a Coulomb-blockaded SINIS junction

The problem of a Josephson current through a Coulomb-blocked nanoscale superconductor-normal-superconductor structure with tunnel contacts is reconsidered. Two different contributions to the phase-biased supercurrent I(?) are identified, which are dominant in the limits of weak and strong Coulomb interaction. Full expression for the free energy valid at arbitrary Coulomb strength is found. The current derived from this free energy interpolates between known results for weak and strong Coulomb interaction as the phase bias changes from 0 to π. In the broad range of Coulomb strength, the current-phase relation is substantially nonsinusoidal and qualitatively different from the case of semiballistic SNS junctions. The Coulomb interaction leads to the appearance of a local minimum in the current at some intermediate value of the phase difference applied to the junction.     

Novel spin dynamics in a Josephson junction

We address the dynamics of a single spin embedded in the tunneling barrier between two superconductors. As a consequence of pair correlations in the superconducting state, the spin displays a rich and unusual dynamics. To properly describe the time evolution of the spin we find the generalized Wess-Zumino-Witten-Novikov term in the effective action for the spin on the Keldysh contour. The superconducting correlations lead to an effective spin action which is nonlocal in time leading to unconventional precessions. Our predictions might be directly tested for macroscopic spin clusters.     

Fluxon interaction in a long Josephson junction

Fluxon interaction in a long Josephson junction with bias current and losses is investigated by means of a perturbational approach. A simple analytical theory of the congelation (bunching) of unipolar fluxons is presented. Asymptotic results are confirmed by numerical solutions. It is shown that a system of congealed fluxons reflects from an open end of the junction without being destroyed.     

Curved Josephson junction

The constant curvature one and quasi-one dimensional Josephson junction is considered. On the base of Maxwell equations, the sine–Gordon equation that describes an influence of curvature on the kink motion was obtained. It is showed that the method of geometrical reduction of the sine–Gordon model from three to lower dimensional manifold leads to an identical form of the sine–Gordon equation.     

Current noises in a topological Josephson junction

We study the transport properties of a superconductor-quantum spin Hall insulator-superconductor Josephson junction both in the absence and in the presence of a DC bias voltage. As the system is predicted to host Majorana fermions at its interfaces,the Andreev bond states are supposed to exhibit a distinct 4π periodicity in the superconducting phase difference, namely the fractional Josephson effect. Using the non-equilibrium Green's function method, we calculate the current and the related current noise based on a tight-binding Hamiltonian. Our direct results show that the fractional Josephson effect can not be seen in equilibrium junctions. While in non-equilibrium junctions, this effect can be confirmed by the multiple Andreev reflections induced peaks of the non-equilibrium noise, which appear at discrete frequencies ω = ne V with n being an integer number.     

Vibrating superconducting island in a Josephson junction

We consider a combined nanomechanical-supercondcuting device that allows the Cooper pair tunneling to interfere with the mechanical motion of the middle superconducting island. Coupling of mechanical oscillations of a superconducting island between two superconducting leads to the electronic tunneling generates a supercurrent that is modulated by the oscillatory motion of the island. This coupling produces alternating finite and vanishing supercurrent as function of the superconducting phases. Current peaks are sensitive to the superconducting phase shifts relative to each other. The proposed device may be used to study the nanoelectromechanical coupling in case of superconducting electronics.     

Relaxation dynamics in a stochastic bosonic Josephson junction

We consider a bosonic Josephson junction in the Bose-Hubbard two-mode approximation where some of the parameters are corrupted by physically meaningful noise processes and study the corresponding relaxation dynamics towards its equilibrium state. We show with numerical simulations that this model can essentially capture all the important features observed in a recent experiment regarding the relaxation dynamics in one-dimensional bosonic Josephson junctions, namely the damped oscillations of the population imbalance and the relative phase, as well as the large final coherence factor. We expect that this work will further motivate research about the origin of relaxation mechanism in these systems.     

Electromagnetic waves in a randomly inhomogeneous Josephson junction

Spectrum modification and damping of Josephson plasma waves induced by random inhomogeneities of the critical current through the superconductor contact and the averaged Green function of such excitations are analyzed. In the self-consistent approximation that makes it possible to take into account multiple wave scattering on the inhomogeneities, the frequency and damping of averaged waves, as well as position ν _m and peak width Δν of the Fourier transform imaginary part of the averaged Green function, are determined as functions of wavevector k. The evolution of such functions with the variation of the correlation radius and the relative r.m.s. fluctuations of inhomogeneities is studied. The inhomogeneity-induced wave frequency decrease observed in the long wavelength spectral region qualitatively agrees with the ν _m behavior. It is established that in the case of “long-range” inhomogeneities, the linear dependence of damping on k changes to the inversely proportional one, and damping tends to zero as k → 0, while Δν at small k attains its maximal values due to nonuniform broadening. In the presence of “short-range” inhomogeneities, the wave damping and Δν are found to be similar functions of k. The results are compared to the numerical calculation data.     

Fluxons interactions in a Josephson junction with a phase-shift

We consider a long Josephson junction with a discontinuity point characterized by a gauge phase-shift. The system is described by a modified sine-Gordon equation. We study, in particular, the interactions between a fluxon and a fractional fluxon. A perturbation theory is developed in the small phase-shift limit to understand the characteristics of the interaction. Finally, numerical computations of the threshold bias current and the threshold velocity for a fluxon running over a fractional fluxon are presented.     

Rectifying effect in a Josephson junction ratchet array

We have studied numerically a rectifying effect in an underdamped Josephson junction ratchet array driven by dc and ac current. The array consists of both alternating potential barriers and alternating inter-capacitances along the direction of vortex flow. The guide banks of high critical currents are assigned for all the longitudinal junctions to prevent the percolative pattern of vortex motion. In some junction parameters, we see a rectifying effect which indicates a finite value of the time-averaged voltage at zero dc bias. The directional dependence of the vortex motion becomes fairly large when the junction parameters lie in an optimal range which gives rise to a Shapiro step at zero dc bias. Such a rectifying effect survives for small thermal fluctuation, but eventually disappear beyond a certain critical temperature.     

Fluctuation power spectrum of a Josephson junction

The fluctuation power spectrum of the Josephson junction has been evaluated in the limit of large energy barriers [(U _n ^max−U _n ^min)γ]≫1 and small currents [x≪x _e]. The result is valid for finite capacitance of the junction. The effect of the fluctuating Josephson current on the voltageV(t) across the junction has also been taken into account.     

Anomalous pair currents in Josephson junction

An mechanism for the anomalous peak in the I–V characteristics of the Josephson junction is proposed which is due to the creation of quasiparticle pairs by the self-induced a.c. voltage.