Josephson junction with a magnetic-field tunable ground state

E. Goldobin*, D. Koelle, R. Kleiner, R. G. Mints

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

73 Scopus citations

Abstract

We consider an asymmetric 0-π Josephson junction consisting of 0 and π regions of different lengths L0 and Lπ. As predicted earlier this system can be described by an effective sine-Gordon equation for the spatially averaged phase ψ so that the effective current-phase relation of this system includes a negative second harmonic sin (2ψ). If its amplitude is large enough, the ground state of the junction is doubly degenerate ψ=±φ, where φ depends on the amplitudes of the first and second harmonics. We study the behavior of such a junction in an applied magnetic field H and demonstrate that H induces an additional term Hcos ψ in the effective current-phase relation. This results in a nontrivial ground state tunable by magnetic field. The dependence of the critical current on H allows for revealing the ground state experimentally.

Original languageEnglish
Article number227001
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume107
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Nov 2011

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