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.     

Warp of the Invariant Circle and Onset of Chaos in Josephson Junction Equation

The dynamics of the dc and ac driving Josephson junction equation is studied in terms of the two-dimensional Poincaré map. The smooth invariant circle on the phase cylinder in over-damped case a ） 2 loses smoothness as a decreases and becomes a strange attractor eventually. This triggers two kinds of chaos, one occurs in the regions between two Arnold tongues and the other occurs within the tongues.     

Modified Josephson Equation for Mesoscopic Parallel LC Circuit Including a Josephson Junction

By introducing the entangled state representation, parallel LC circuit including a 3osephson junction equation associated with the modification of the motion equation. the Cooper-pair number-phase quantization of the mesoscopic is realized. In the Heisenberg picture, the modified Josephson Faraday equation about the inductance is deduced from the     

Determination of Relaxation Time of a Josephson Tunnel Junction

We propose a non-stationary method to measure the energy relaxation time of Josephson tunnel junctions from microwave enhanced escape phenomena. Compared with the previous methods, our method possesses simple and accurate features. Moreover, having determined the energy relaxation time, we can further obtain the coupling strength between the microwave source and the junction by changing the microwave power.     

Cooper-Pair Number-Phase Quantization for a Mesoscopic LC Circuit Including a Josephson Junction

By introducing the entangled state representation and Feynman assumption that ＇electron pairs are bosons, ..., a bound pair acts as a Bose particle ＇, we construct an operator Hamiltonian for a mesoscopic inductance-capacitance （LC） circuit including a Josephson junction, then we use the Heisenberg equation of motion to derive the current equation and the voltage equation across the inductance as well as across the Josephson junction. The result manifestly shows how the junction voltage is affected by the capacitance coupling. In this way the Cooper-pair number-phase quantization for this system is completed.     

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

The effect of an array of ferromagnetic nanoparticles on the field-dependent critical current of the short overlap Josephson junction is experimentally studied. Large reversible variations of the maximum critical current are observed depending on the magnetic state of the particles. The pronounced commensurability effects are detected which are proved by the additional peaks of magnetic field induced diffraction pattern.     

Cooper-Pair Number--Phase Quantization for Inductance Coupling Circuit Including Josephson Junctions

Based on the entangled state representation and a bosonic phase operator formalism, we tackle with Cooperpair number-phase quantization for the inductance coupling circuit including Josephson junctions, and then investigate how Josephson current equations change due to the presence of the coupling inductance and obtain bosonic operator Faraday formula, as well as the corresponding number-phase uncertainty relation.     

Wide‐band phase locking of Josephson junctions in a resonator

We found that the chain of junctions acts both as the source of radiation and as a part of the superconducting resonator when the effective capacitance of the resonator is larger than the total capacitance of all junctions. At this condition junctions are synchronized in‐phase not only at the resonance steps but also in the whole hysteretic region of I –V characteristics below the resonant frequency. The maximal allowable spread of critical currents for this effect is about 5–10%. We analyzed the origin of the effect both numerically and by the method of slowly varying amplitudes.

     

Quantum electrodynamic fluctuations of the macroscopic Josephson phase

We study the equilibrium dynamics of the relative phase in a superconducting Josephson link taking into account the quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic vacuum. The photons act as a superohmic heat bath on the relative Cooper pair number and thus, indirectly, on the macroscopic phase difference φ. This leads to an enhancement of the mean square 〈φ²〉 that adds to the spread due to the Coulomb interaction carried by the longitudinal electromagnetic field. We also include the interaction with the electronic degrees of freedom due to quasiparticle tunneling, which couple to the phase and only indirectly to the particle number. The simultaneous inclusion of both the radiation field fluctuations and quasiparticle tunneling leads to a novel type of particle-bath Hamiltonian in which the quantum particle couples through its position and momentum to two independent bosonic heat baths. We study the interplay between the two mechanisms in the present context and find interference contributions to the quantum fluctuations of the phase. We explore the observability of the QED effects discussed here.     

Transitions in two sinusoidally coupled Josephson junction rotators

We investigate the dynamics of two sinusoidally coupled Josephson junction rotators to provide a clear knowledge of the behaviors in different regions of the parameter space. The dynamical states are identified, and the transitions among these states are studied. The properties of the current–voltage curves are investigated. Further more, we observed the chaotic states in some regions of parameter space. We conjecture it may caused by the competition of two periodic potentials: one is the external field, another is the interacting of two particles.     

The model of Josephson junction arrays embedded in resonant cavities and the phase-locking properties

We propose a new model of a Josephson junction array embedded in a resonant cavity. The model considers the excitation of the resonance mode by the array and the influence of the resonance mode on the array. The phase-locking properties of the junction array are investigated in the frame of the model. Resonant steps in the current–voltage characteristics due to the interaction between the array and the resonant cavity and many other features of the phase-locking behaviors have been produced. The results include the influence of the quality factor, the strength of the coupling, as well as the junction number of the array on the phase-locking properties. The model can successfully explain many features of the real situation and provide useful new predictions.     

Novel magnetoinductance effects in Josephson junction arrays: A single-plaquette approximation

Using a single-plaquette approximation, novel magnetoinductance effects in Josephson junction arrays (JJAs) are predicted, including the appearance of steps in the temperature behavior of magnetic susceptibility. The number of steps (as well as their size) is controlled by the kinetic inductance of the plaquette whose field dependence is governed by the Abrikosov vortices penetrating superconducting regions of the array. The experimental conditions under which the predicted effects should manifest themselves in artificially prepared JJAs are discussed.     

Continuous-Variable Entanglement Transfer from Cavity Field to Two Mesoscopic Josephson Junctions

We consider a composite system of two remote mesoscopic dosephson junctions interacting locally with a two-mode non-classical cavity field and investigate entanglement transfer from a bipartite continuous-variable （CV） system to a pair of localized mesoscopic dosephson junctions. We obtain analytically the time-dependent characteristic functions in the Wigner representation for the two CV subsystems, where two cases are considered for the zero and finite temperatures. Furthermore, we analyse the influences of the temperature on the period recovery of the entanglement.     

Chaos synchronization in RCL-shunted Josephson junctions via a common chaos driving

We study chaos synchronization in two resistive-capacitive-inductive-shunted (RCL-shunted) Josephson junctions (RCLSJJs) by using a common chaos driving. The numerical simulations confirm that the synchronization of two RCLSJJs can be achieved with a suitable driving intensity when the maximum condition Lyapunov exponent (MCLE) is negative.     

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.     

On the conductance oscillations in a mesoscopic proximity system

A fork-shapedN-branch Andreev interferometer is considered and the conductance of the system is calculated as a function of the phase difference in the superconducting order parameters across the interferometer. The results obtained from the quasiclassical, and the scattering-matrix theories are quantitatively compared, which were in good qualitative agreement showing a typical 2π-periodic interference pattern with certain fine structures.     

Josephson current in ferromagnetic d-wave superconductor/ferromagnetic d-wave superconductor junction

We solve a self-consistent equation for the d-wave superconducting gap and the effective exchange field in the mean-field approximation, study the Zeeman effects on the d-wave superconducting gap and thermodynamic potential. The Josephson currents in the d-wave superconductor (S)/insulating layer (I)/d-wave S junction are calculated as a function of the temperature, exchange field, and insulating barrier strength under a Zeeman magnetic field on the two d-wave Ss. It is found that the Josephson critical currents in d-wave S/d-wave S junction depend to a great extent on the relative orientation of the effective exchange field of the two S electrodes, and the crystal orientation of the d-wave S. The exchange field can under certain conditions enhance the Josephson critical current in a d-wave S/I/d-wave S junction.     

Investigations on phase locking in a two-dimensional Josephson junction array within the Werthamer and the RCSJ model

The synchronization properties of a simple two-dimensional Josephson array consisting of two coupled SQUID cells are studied within the Werthamer as well as the RCSJ model. Special emphasis is placed on the role of inductances arranged perpendicular and parallel to the current bias direction for the phase locking behavior. The general behavior within the Werthamer model is found to be similar to that within the RCSJ model. However, there are quantitative differences, e.g. an enhanced phase shift between the voltage oscillations within one cell and a shift of the parameter range for the in-phase regime between different cells towards lower values of the McCumber parameter in the Werthamer model. Received: 23 March 1998 / Revised: 3 June 1998 / Accepted: 9 June 1998     

Critical current oscillations in S/F heterostructures in the presence of s–d scattering

Josephson current is investigated in the superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor junction. It was shown that the current exhibited damping oscillations as a function of the ferromagnetic layer thickness. Previous theories based on Usadel or Eilenberger equations have predicted that the damping length and oscillation period divided by 2π were the same for weak ferromagnetic spacer. This contradicts past experiments. A new calculation of the Josephson current is proposed. The Gorkov equations are solved taking into account s–d scattering in ferromagnet. It is shown that the oscillation period depends only on the exchange magnetic field in the spacer, whereas the damping length is connected to the ferromagnetic mean free path. The concordance with the former experiment allows one to conclude that s–d scattering as a pair-breaking mechanism plays a significant role in the proximity effect in S/F heterostructures.     

Persistent currents in superconducting quantum interference devices

Starting from the reduced dynamical model of a two-junction quantum interference device, it shown that a quantum analog of the system can be exhibited. This quantum model extends the well-known properties of the device when its characteristic dimensions are of the order of mesoscopic length scales. By finding eigenvalues of the corresponding Hamiltonian operator, the persistent currents flowing in the ring have been obtained. The resulting quantum analog of the overdamped two-junction quantum interference device can be seen as a supercurrent qubit operating in the limit of negligible capacitance and finite inductance.