0-pi Josephson tunnel junctions with ferromagnetic barrier

We fabricated high quality Nb/Al2O3/Ni(0.6)Cu(0.4)/Nb superconductor-insulator-ferromagnet-superconductor Josephson tunnel junctions. Using a ferromagnetic layer with a steplike thickness, we obtain a 0-pi junction, with equal lengths and critical currents of 0 and pi parts. The ground state of our 330 microm (1.3lambda(J)) long junction corresponds to a spontaneous vortex of supercurrent pinned at the 0-pi step and carrying approximately 6.7% of the magnetic flux quantum Phi(0). The dependence of the critical current on the applied magnetic field shows a clear minimum in the vicinity of zero field.     

Controllable 0-pi transition in a superconducting graphene-nanoribbon junction

The supercurrent in a Josephson junction composed of the zigzag edged graphene nanoribbon (ZGNR) lying between two superconducting leads [superconductor-graphene-superconductor (SGS) junction] has been studied by the Green's function method. It is found that a small transverse electric field applied on the ZGNR can reverse the supercurrent direction, leading to a so-called 0-pi phase transition. The 0-pi phase transition can happen periodically with a change in the ZGNR's length, and, more importantly, can be easily and electrically controllable by a gate voltage, which is absent in the conventional superconducting pi junction and would make the SGS junction very promising for future application in superconducting electronics, as well as quauntum information and computation.     

0-pi Transitions in a superconductor/chiral ferromagnet/superconductor junction induced by a homogeneous cycloidal spiral

We study the pi phase in a superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor Josephson junction, with a ferromagnet showing a cycloidal spiral spin modulation with in-plane propagation vector. Our results reveal a high sensitivity of the junction to the spiral order and indicate the presence of 0-pi quantum phase transitions as function of the spiral wave vector. We find that the chiral magnetic order introduces chiral superconducting triplet pairs that strongly influence the physics in such Josephson junctions, with potential applications in nanoelectronics and spintronics.     

Direct measurement of the Josephson supercurrent in an ultrasmall Josephson junction

We have measured the supercurrent flowing through a nonhysteretic, ultrasmall, voltage-biased Josephson junction. In contrast with experiments performed so far on hysteretic Josephson junctions, we find a supercurrent peak whose maximum I(s max) increases as the temperature T decreases. The asymptotic T = 0 value of I(s max) agrees with the junction Ambegaokar-Baratoff critical current, as predicted by theory.     

Ferromagnetic 0–<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">π</Emphasis> Josephson junctions

We present a study on low-T_c superconductor-insulator-ferromagnet-superconductor (SIFS) Josephson junctions. SIFS junctions have gained considerable interest in recent years because they show a number of interesting properties for future classical and quantum computing devices. We optimized the fabrication process of these junctions to achieve a homogeneous current transport, ending up with high-quality samples. Depending on the thickness of the ferromagnetic layer and on temperature, the SIFS junctions are in the ground state with a phase drop of either 0 or π. By using a ferromagnetic layer with variable step-like thickness along the junction, we obtained a so-called 0–π Josephson junction, in which 0 and π ground states compete with each other. At a certain temperature the 0 and π parts of the junction are perfectly symmetric, i.e. the absolute critical current densities are equal. In this case the degenerate ground state corresponds to a vortex of supercurrent circulating clock- or counterclockwise and creating a magnetic flux which carries a fraction of the magnetic flux quantum Φ₀. PACS  74.50.+r; 74.78.Fk; 74.81.-g; 85.25.Cp     

超导弱连接中的Josephson电流在一个磁通量子内的振荡(Ⅰ)——Josephson结

本文指出如果Josephson结处在Q值足够高的谐振腔内,当Josephson频率ω=(2eV₀)/h与谐振腔的本征频率ω_r发生谐振时,谐振的电磁场对Josephson结自身的反馈作用将导致超流电流在一个磁通量子内随磁场的小周期振荡。 关键词：     

Proximity-Effect-Induced Superconductivity in Nb/Sb2Te3-Nanoribbon/Nb Junctions

Nanohybrid superconducting junctions using antimony telluride (Sb₂Te₃) topological insulator nanoribbons and Nb superconducting electrodes are fabricated using electron beam lithography and magnetron sputtering. The effects of bias current, temperature, and magnetic field on the transport properties of the junctions in a four-terminal measurement configuration are investigated. Two features are observed. First, the formation of a Josephson weak-link junction. The junction is formed by proximity-induced areas in the nanoribbon right underneath the inner Nb electrodes which are connected by the few tens of nanometers short Sb₂Te₃ bridge. At 0.5 K a critical current of 0.15 µA is observed. The decrease of the supercurrent with temperature is explained in the framework of a diffusive junction. Furthermore, the Josephson supercurrent is found to decrease monotonously with the magnetic field indicating that the structure is in the small-junction limit. As a second feature, a transition is also observed in the differential resistance at larger bias currents and larger magnetic fields, which is attributed to the suppression of the proximity-induced superconductive state in the nanoribbon area underneath the Nb electrodes.     

π-0 transition in superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junctions

Superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor (SFS) Josephson junctions are known to exhibit a transition between π and 0 states. In this letter, we find the π-0 phase diagram of an SFS junction depending on the transparency of an intermediate insulating layer (I). We show that, in general, the Josephson critical current is nonzero at the π-0 transition temperature. Contributions to the current from the two spin channels nearly compensate each other, and the first harmonic of the Josephson current as a function of phase difference is suppressed. However, higher harmonics give a nonzero contribution to the supercurrent.     

Dynamics of semifluxons in Nb long Josephson 0-pi junctions

We propose, implement, and test experimentally long Josephson 0-pi junctions fabricated using conventional Nb-AlOx-Nb technology. We show that by using a pair of current injectors one can create an arbitrary discontinuity of the Josephson phase and, in particular, a pi discontinuity, just as in d-wave/s-wave or in d-wave/d-wave junctions, and study fractional Josephson vortices which spontaneously appear. Moreover, using such junctions, we can investigate the dynamics of the fractional vortices-a domain which is not yet available for natural 0-pi junctions due to their inherently high damping. We observe half-integer zero-field steps which appear on the current-voltage characteristics due to the hopping of semifluxons.     

Mesoscopic Josephson effect

In the classical Josephson effect the phase difference across the junction is well defined, and the supercurrent is reduced only weakly by phase diffusion. For mesoscopic junctions with small capacitance the phase undergoes large quantum fluctuations, and the current is also decreased by Coulomb blockade effects. We discuss the behavior of the current–voltage characteristics in a large range of parameters comprising the phase diffusion regime with coherent Josephson current as well as the supercurrent peak due to incoherent Cooper pair tunneling in the Coulomb blockade regime.     

Manipulation and generation of supercurrent in out-of-equilibrium Josephson tunnel nanojunctions

We demonstrate experimentally the manipulation of supercurrent in Al-AlOx-Ti Josephson tunnel junctions by injecting quasiparticles in a Ti island from two additional tunnel-coupled Al superconducting reservoirs. Both supercurrent enhancement and quenching with respect to equilibrium are achieved. We demonstrate cooling of the Ti line by quasiparticle injection from the normal state deep into the superconducting phase. A model based on heat transport and the nonmonotonic current-voltage characteristic of a Josephson junction satisfactorily accounts for our findings.     

Localization effects in normal metal and supercurrent through the S-N-S junction

The stationary Josephson effect in S-N-S junction is considered. It is found that except the usual term there is another contribution to the supercurrent which is due to the interaction between the electrons in the normal metal. The features of this extra supercurrent are: 1) it is proportional to the electron-electron coupling constant so its sign is arbitrary, 2) the period of its dependence on phase discontinuity is π (not 2π as usual). This additional supercurrent will dominate the usual one if normal metal is in the ferromagnetic state. Therefore, if the electrons in ferromagnet repulse each other the phase discontinuity is equal to π /2 in the ground state. A system with finite current in the ground state can be constructed.     

dc Josephson effect in metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes

The dc Josephson effect is investigated in a single-walled metallic carbon nanotube connected to two superconducting leads. In particular, by using the Luttinger liquid theory, we analyze the effects of the electron-electron interaction on the supercurrent. We find that in the long junction limit the strong electronic correlations of the nanotube, together with its peculiar band structure, induce oscillations in the critical current as a function of the junction length and/or the nanotube electron filling. These oscillations represent a signature of the Luttinger liquid physics of the nanotube, for they are absent if the interaction is vanishing. We show that this effect can be exploited to reverse the sign of the supercurrent, realizing a tunable π-junction.     

Current-voltage characteristics of extended Josephson junctions with viscous magnetic-flux transport

A theory that describes the current-voltage characteristics of extended Josephson junctions is built. The width of the junctions is much larger than the mean free path of a single fluxon, with the length of the path determined by energy dissipation in the junction. Explicit analytic expressions are derived for the maximum supercurrent in the junction and the low-voltage asymptotic behavior of the current-voltage characteristics. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 910–925 (September 1997)     

Josephson current carried by Andreev levels in superconducting quantum point contacts

The dc Josephson effect in a superconducting quantum point contact, where supercurrent flows through a small number of channels, is reviewed. The central role of Andreev levels is emphasized which carry the whole supercurrent in short symmetric Josephson junctions including tunnel junctions. A simple intuitive view of the dc Josephson effect in a quantum point contact is given in terms of multiple Andreev reflections. The quantization of the critical current in superconducting quantum point contacts is briefly discussed.     

Josephson effect in hybrid oxide heterostructures with an antiferromagnetic layer

Josephson coupling between an s- and d-wave superconductor through a 50 nm thick Ca1-xSrxCuO2 antiferromagnetic layer was observed for the hybrid Nb/Au/Ca1-xSrxCuO2/YBa2Cu3O7-delta heterostructures and investigated as a function of temperature, magnetic field, and applied millimeter-wave electromagnetic radiation. The magnetic field dependence of the supercurrent I(c)(H) exhibits anomalously rapid oscillations, which is the first experimental evidence of the theoretically predicted giant magneto-oscillations in Josephson junctions with antiferromagnetic interlayers.     

An experimental study of Josephson effect in bulk YBaCUO

We have observed Josephson effect in bulk YBaCuO. The size of bulk is 7.5×2.2×0.3 mm and the microwave frequency is 9.82 GHz in our experiment. Several microwave induced steps can easily be observed. When an external magnetic field is applied to the bulk, the critical supercurrent at zero voltage is suppressed significantly. It has been demonstrated that YBaCuO bulk can be seen as a network of Josephson junctions. An experimental study of Josephson effect in bulk YBaCuO at millimeter wave frquency is in progress.     

Josephson effect in fulde-ferrell-larkin-ovchinnikov superconductors

Because of the difference in the momenta of the superconducting order parameters, the Josephson current in a Josephson junction between a Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) superconductor and a conventional BCS superconductor is suppressed. We show that the Josephson current may be recovered by applying a magnetic field in the junction. The field strength and direction at which the supercurrent recovery occurs depend upon the momentum and structure of the order parameter in the FFLO state. Thus the Josephson effect provides an unambiguous way to detect the existence of an FFLO state, and to measure the momentum of the order parameter.