No Arabic abstract
We study the dynamics of current-biased Josephson-junction arrays with a magnetic penetration depth smaller than the lattice spacing. We compare the dynamics imaged by low-temperature scanning electron microscopy to the vortex dynamics obtained from model calculations based on the resistively-shunted junction model, in combination with Maxwells equations. We find three bias current regions with fundamentally different array dynamics. The first region is the subcritical region, i.e. below the array critical current I_c. The second, for currents I above I_c, is a vortex region, in which the response is determined by the vortex degrees of freedom. In this region, the dynamics is characterized by spatial domains where vortices and antivortices move across the array in opposite directions in adjacent rows and by transverse voltage fluctuations. In the third, for still higher currents, the dynamics is dominated by coherent-phase motion, and the current-voltage characteristics are linear.
We compute the current voltage characteristic of a chain of identical Josephson circuits characterized by a large ratio of Josephson to charging energy that are envisioned as the implementation of topologically protected qubits. We show that in the limit of small coupling to the environment it exhibits a non-monotonous behavior with a maximum voltage followed by a parametrically large region where $Vpropto 1/I$. We argue that its experimental measurement provides a direct probe of the amplitude of the quantum transitions in constituting Josephson circuits and thus allows their full characterization.
An array of superconducting proximity islands has been shown to be highly tunable by electric and magnetic fields. Indeed, a small change in the electric and magnetic field can tune the system from a vortex Mott insulator to a vortex metal. This transition from localized to a non-localized state can occur as soon as the density of the superconducting vortices matches the density of the pinning sites in a non defective structure. The possibility of further modulation of non-localized superconducting states via enhancement of the superconducting order parameter or modulation of the Josephson plasma frequency is discussed. Based on the non-bolometric effects associated with the occurrence of non-equilibrium phenomena in this original superconducting networks we discuss also the possible applications of this array for a conceptually new type of radiation detector.
As the size of a Josephson junction is reduced, charging effects become important and the superconducting phase across the link turns into a periodic quantum variable. Isolated Josephson junction arrays are described in terms of such periodic quantum variables and thus exhibit pronounced quantum interference effects arising from paths with different winding numbers (Aharonov-Casher effects). These interference effects have strong implications for the excitation spectrum of the array which are relevant in applications of superconducting junction arrays for quantum computing. The interference effects are most pronounced in arrays composed of identical junctions and possessing geometric symmetries; they may be controlled by either external gate potentials or by adding/removing charge to/from the array. Here we consider a loop of N identical junctions encircling one half superconducting quantum of magnetic flux. In this system, the ground state is found to be non-degenerate if the total number of Cooper pairs on the array is divisible by N, and doubly degenerate otherwise (after the stray charges are compensated by the gate voltages).
Using tunneling spectroscopy, we have measured the local electron energy distribution function in the normal part of a superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) Josephson junction containing an extra lead to a normal reservoir. In the presence of simultaneous supercurrent and injected quasiparticle current, the distribution function exhibits a sharp feature at very low energy. The feature is odd in energy, and odd under reversal of either the supercurrent or the quasiparticle current direction. The feature represents an effective temperature gradient across the SNS Josephson junction that is controllable by the supercurrent.
In this contribution we present a simple and effective procedure to determine the average critical current of a tridimensional disordered Josephson junction array (3D-DJJA). Using a contactless configuration we evaluate the average critical current and the typical width of the distribution through the analysis of the isothermal susceptibility response to the excitation field amplitude, chiAC(h). A 3D-DJJA fabricated from granular Nb is used to illustrate the method.