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.     

Flux cloning in Josephson transmission lines

We describe a novel effect related to the controlled birth of a single Josephson vortex. In this phenomenon, the vortex is created in a Josephson transmission line at a T-shaped junction. The "baby" vortex arises at the moment when a "mother" vortex propagating in the adjacent transmission line passes the T-shaped junction. In order to give birth to a new vortex, the mother vortex must have enough kinetic energy. Its motion can also be supported by an externally applied driving current. We determine the critical velocity and the critical driving current for the creation of the baby vortices and briefly discuss the potential applications of the found effect.     

Drastic increase in the Cherenkov losses of Josephson vortices propagating under the influence of transport current

It is demonstrated that when the velocity of vortices in a Josephson junction magnetically coupled to a waveguide approaches the limits of the allowed ranges, the relative contribution of the Cherenkov losses to the transport current density increases drastically.     

Interaction of mesoscopic Josephson devices with non-classical microwaves

Mesoscopic Josephson devices, interacting with non-classical microwaves, are studied. The phase difference in Josephson's equations is a quantum mechanical operator, whose expectation value with respect to the density matrix describing the microwaves, determines the current. Dual phenomena with vortex condensates in Josephson array insulators are also considered. Dual Josephson junctions for vortices, made from two insulators separated by a weak link through which the vortices tunnel, are described by dual Josephson equations.     

Application of nano-scale Josephson junction as phase sensitive detector for analysis of vortex states in mesoscopic superconductors

We study phase shifts in a Josephson junction induced by vortices in superconducting mesoscopic electrodes. The position of the vortices are controlled by suitable geometry of a nano-scale Nb–Pt_1−xNi_x–Nb junction of the overlap type made by Focused Ion Beam (FIB) sculpturing. The vortex is kept outside the junction, parallel to the junction plane. From the measured Fraunhofer characteristics the entrance and exit of vortices are detected. By changing the bias current through the junction at constant magnetic field the vortices can be manipulated and the system can be switched between two consecutive vortex states which are characterized by different critical currents of the junction. A mesoscopic superconductor thus acts as a non-volatile memory cell in which the junction is used both for reading and writing information (vortex). Furthermore, we observe that the critical current density of Nb–Pt_1−xNi_x–Nb junctions decreases non-monotonously with increasing Ni concentration. It exhibits a minimum at ∼40 at.% Ni, which is an indication of switching into the π state.     

Features of the effect of the Josephson medium parameters on vortex formation and critical current

The response of an intergranular Josephson junction to displacements of an Abrikosov vortex in a superconducting polycrystal is studied theoretically. The vortex filament in the vicinity of the junction excites a tunnel current in the junction and also generates a Josephson vortex with which it merges upon emergence at the surface of the junction. It is shown that the process of the Josephson vortex formation passes through a stage of overcoming a potential barrier, whose height depends on the distance between the Abrikosov vortex and the junction, as well as on the effective thickness of the junction, which is determined by the characteristic grain size, grain anisotropy, and the intensity of the intergranular coupling. The magnetic field dependence of the critical current of the intergranular Josephson junction is determined for various grain and intergranular parameters, as well as for the triangular and square configurations of the Abrikosov vortex lattice. The results indicate that a high degree of texturing in the grain size, anisotropy, and intensity of intergranular coupling is very important for obtaining high critical currents in pure polycrystalline materials.     

On the velocity of a 4π kink moving under the action of current

The dependence of bias current density through a junction on the velocity of a uniformly moving vortex carrying two magnetic flux quanta is established in the approximation of weakly nonlocal Josephson electrodynamics. It is shown that the velocity quantization of free motion of the vortex, which is induced by the Cherenkov interaction with Swihart waves, leads to the emergence of a discrete family of curves on the velocity-current plane.     

Effects of anisotropy and layering in the high-temperature superconductors

The key building blocks of the high-temperature copper-oxide superconductors are the CuO₂ layers, on which superconductivity tends to be localized and along which the normal-state electrical conductivity is highest. Separating these layers (or bilayers, trilayers, etc.) are locally nonsuperconducting layers, which can be modeled as proximity junctions or tunnel junctions. In this paper I summarize some consequences of a theoretical model for strongly anisotropic high-temperature superconductors in which the interlayer regions are treated as Josephson junctions. In such a model, the vortex lines threading through the structure are best visualized as stacks of two-dimensional pancake vortices connected by Josephson strings. The two-dimensional pancake vortices are centered on the layers and have Abrikosov cores, while the Josephson strings are confined to the junctions and have Josephson cores. Outside the cores, the field and current distributions can be calculated from the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau (or London) theory. Various features of the flux-pinning anisotropy can be explained using these approaches.     

Vortex motion rectification in Josephson junction arrays with a ratchet potential

By means of electrical transport measurements we have studied the rectified motion of vortices in ratchet potentials engineered on overdamped Josephson junction arrays. The rectified voltage as a function of the vortex density shows a maximum efficiency close a matching condition to the period of the ratchet potential indicating a collective vortex motion. Vortex current reversals were detected varying the driving force and vortex density revealing the influence of vortex-vortex interaction in the ratchet effect.     

Properties of Josephson junctions in the inhomogeneous magnetic field of a system of ferromagnetic particles

The effect of a system of ferromagnetic particles on the field-dependent critical current of a Josephson junction is experimentally studied for junctions of different geometries. For edge junctions, the effect of commensurability between the periodic magnetic field of the particles and the Josephson vortex lattice is observed. The effect manifests itself in additional maxima of the field-dependent critical current. For overlap junctions, giant (greater than sixfold) variations of the maximum critical current are observed depending on the magnetic state of the particles. The changes in the “Fraunhofer” pattern of the overlaped Josephson junctions are attributed to the formation of Abrikosov vortices due to the effect of uniformly magnetized particles. The effects revealed in the experiments can be used to analyze the inhomogeneous magnetic field of a system of submicron particles and to control the transport properties of Josephson junctions.     

Diffraction effects in the Josephson tunneling between type II superconductors near Hc2

When the lattice of vortices on one side of a SIS tunneling junction moves with respect to that of the other side, we point out that the Josephson current should oscillate in magnitudes and directions as a function of time. The oscillatory behaviour is caused mainly by the diffraction effects of the variation of the order parameter in the mixed state with vortex motion.     

Dynamics of quantum vortices in two-dimensional superconductors

The dynamics of rigid vortex translations in two-dimensional arrays of Josephson junctions is shown to be equivalent to the motion of a mass, proportional to the junction capacitance, in a periodic pinning potential. The quantum tunneling of the vortex through the potential barriers is predicted of importance in the existing Nb-arrays at very low temperatures. Above the vortex unbinding temperature there is a plasma resonance of the free vortices leading to an anomaly in the vortex frequency dependent dielectric constant, which could be observed via a radio frequency impedance measurement.     

Induced motion of a fast Josephson vortex

A relation is established between the transport current flowing through the entire S ₁ IS ₂ WS ₃ layered structure and the velocity of a fast vortex. The fast vortex exists when the Swihart velocity in the waveguide is significantly higher than that in the Josephson junction. It is demonstrated that the main contribution to the Lorentz force that induces the vortex motion is due to the current flowing through the waveguide and skin layers of the adjacent superconductors.

     

Current-driven dynamics in Josephson junction networks with an asymmetric potential

Current-driven dynamics of Josephson junction networks (JJNs) is studied using numerical simulations. We consider a JJN with an asymmetric and periodic potential of vortices, which is realized by saw-tooth modulation of junction critical currents. When external ac currents are applied to the JJN in a magnetic field, there appears a ratchet effect, and then directed motion of vortices is induced in certain system parameter regimes. A ratchet behavior is observed even for JJNs with weak structural disorder. We clarify the vortex pinning and dynamics in the JJN as a ratchet system.     

Cherenkov radiation from an Abrikosov-Josephson vortex

The Cherenkov radiation of generalized Swihart waves is investigated in connection with the slow motion of an Abrikosov-Josephson vortex, which corresponds to a 2 π kink in the phase difference of Cooper pairs on opposite sides of a tunnel junction. The radiative friction force acting on such a vortex is determined. An evaluation is made of the steady-state vortex velocity when the accelerating influence of an electric current through the Josephson junction is compensated by radiative slowing of the vortex due to Cherenkov radiation from the Abrikosov-Josephson vortex. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 444–448 (March 1997)     

Quantization of the motion and Cherenkov structure of a Josephson vortex

A generalization of the Sakai-Tateno-Pedersen model is proposed. This model is used to establish the existence of a discrete eigenvalue spectrum of the free-motion velocities of a Josephson vortex, or π kink, produced by the Cherenkov structure of extraordinary vortex-trapped Swihart waves having the spectrum (3.9). The dependence of the current across the Josephson junction on the vortex velocity was obtained, and, at comparatively high velocities, this was characterized by equidistant dips attributable to the Cherenkov resonant interaction of the vortex with Swihart waves.     

On the radiation from inhomogeneous Josephson junction

The electromagnetic radiation produced by the single moving Josephson vortex in the inhomogeneous junction has been theoretically considered. The radiation is shown to appear at the definite threshold vortex velocity. The expressions for the energy flux and the radiation frequency have been found.