We report on a direct quantitative comparison between Thoms general catastrophe theory for systems presenting discontinuous behavior and experimental reality. It is demonstrated that the model provides a striking quantitative description of the measured experimental features of the complex nonlinear system generating the most appealing class of sensors and devices nowadays used in experiments, namely the Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs). The parameter space of the SQUID system that we investigate displays all the features associated with a butterfly catastrophe, namely a catastrophe expected for a system having four control parameters and one state variable.
Transport is called nonreciprocal when not only the sign, but also the absolute value of the current, depends on the polarity of the applied voltage. It requires simultaneously broken inversion and time-reversal symmetries, e.g., by the interplay of spin-orbit coupling and magnetic field. So far, observation of nonreciprocity was always tied to resistivity, and dissipationless nonreciprocal circuit elements were elusive. Here, we engineer fully superconducting nonreciprocal devices based on highly-transparent Josephson junctions fabricated on InAs quantum wells. We demonstrate supercurrent rectification far below the transition temperature. By measuring Josephson inductance, we can link nonreciprocal supercurrent to the asymmetry of the current-phase relation, and directly derive the supercurrent magnetochiral anisotropy coefficient for the first time. A semi-quantitative model well explains the main features of our experimental data. Nonreciprocal Josephson junctions have the potential to become for superconducting circuits what $pn$-junctions are for traditional electronics, opening the way to novel nondissipative circuit elements.
We investigate the Josephson radiation emitted by a junction made of a quantum dot coupled to two conventional superconductors. Close to resonance, the particle-hole symmetric Andreev states that form in the junction are detached from the continuum above the superconducting gap in the leads, while a gap between them opens near the Fermi level. Under voltage bias, we formulate a stochastic model that accounts for non-adiabatic processes, which change the occupations of the Andreev states. This model allows calculating the current noise spectrum and determining the Fano factor. Analyzing the finite-frequency noise, we find that the model may exhibit either an integer or a fractional AC Josephson effect, depending on the bias voltage and the size of the gaps in the Andreev spectrum. Our results assess the limitations in using the fractional Josephson radiation as a probe of topology.
WTe2, as a type-II Weyl semimetal, has 2D Fermi arcs on the (001) surface in the bulk and 1D helical edge states in its monolayer. These features have recently attracted wide attention in condensed matter physics. However, in the intermediate regime between the bulk and monolayer, the edge states have not been resolved owing to its closed band gap which makes the bulk states dominant. Here, we report the signatures of the edge superconductivity by superconducting quantum interference measurements in multilayer WTe2 Josephson junctions and we directly map the localized supercurrent. In thick WTe2 (~60 nm), the supercurrent is uniformly distributed by bulk states with symmetric Josephson effect ($left|I_c^+(B)right|=left|I_c^-(B)right|$). In thin WTe2 (10 nm), however, the supercurrent becomes confined to the edge and its width reaches up to 1.4 um and exhibits non-symmetric behavior $left|I_c^+(B)right| eq left|I_c^-(B)right|$. The ability to tune the edge domination by changing thickness and the edge superconductivity establishes WTe2 as a promising topological system with exotic quantum phases and a rich physics.
We study quantum phase-slip (QPS) processes in a superconducting ring containing N Josephson junctions and threaded by an external static magnetic flux. In a such system, a QPS consists of a quantum tunneling event connecting two distinct classical states of the phases with different persistent currents [K. A. Matveev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 096802 (2002)]. When the Josephson coupling energy EJ of the junctions is larger than the charging energy EC = e2/2C where C is the junction capacitance, the quantum amplitude for the QPS process is exponentially small in the ratio EJ/EC. At given magnetic flux each QPS can be described as the tunneling of the phase difference of a single junction of almost 2pi, accompanied by a small harmonic displacement of the phase difference of the other N-1 junctions. As a consequence the total QPS amplitude nu is a global property of the ring. Here we study the dependence of nu on the ring size N taking into account the effect of a finite capacitance C0 to ground which leads to the appearance of low-frequency dispersive modes. Josephson and charging effects compete and lead to a nonmonotonic dependence of the ring critical current on N. For N=infty, the system converges either towards a superconducting or an insulating state, depending on the ratio between the charging energy E0 = e2/2C0 and the Josephson coupling energy EJ.
We study the thermodynamic properties of a superconductor/normal metal/superconductor Josephson junction {in the short limit}. Owing to the proximity effect, such a junction constitutes a thermodynamic system where {phase difference}, supercurrent, temperature and entropy are thermodynamical variables connected by equations of state. These allow conceiving quasi-static processes that we characterize in terms of heat and work exchanged. Finally, we combine such processes to construct a Josephson-based Otto and Stirling cycles. We study the related performance in both engine and refrigerator operating mode.