Recently it has been found that, when operated at large input power, the linewidth of terahertz radiation emitted from intrinsic Josephson junction stacks can be as narrow as some megahertz. In this high-bias regime a hot spot coexists with regions w
hich are still superconducting. Surprisingly, the linewidth was found to decrease with increasing bath temperature. We present a simple model describing the dynamics of the stack in the presence of a hot spot by two parallel arrays of pointlike Josephson junctions and an additional shunt resistor in parallel. Heat diffusion is taken into account by thermally coupling all elements to a bath at temperature T_b. We present current-voltage characteristics of the coupled system and calculations of the linewidth of the radiation as a function of T_b. In the presence of a spatial gradient of the junction parameters critical current and resistance, the linewidth deceases with increasing T_b, similar to the experimental observation.
We have studied experimentally and numerically temperature profiles and the formation of hot spots in intrinsic Josephson junction stacks in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (BSCCO). The superconducting stacks are biased in a state where all junctions are resistive. Th
e formation of hot spots in this system is shown to arise mainly from the strongly negative temperature coefficient of the c-axis resistivity of BSCCO at low temperatures. This leads to situations where the maximum temperature in the hot spot can be below or above the superconducting transition temperature Tc. The numerical simulations are in good agreement with the experimental observations.
