107 research outputs found
Current-voltage characteristics of asymmetric double-barrier Josephson junctions
We develop a theory for the current-voltage characteristics of diffusive
superconductor-normal metal-superconductor Josephson junctions with resistive
interfaces and the distance between the electrodes smaller than the
superconducting coherence length. The theory allows for a quantitative
analytical and numerical analysis in the whole range of the interface
transparencies and asymmetry. We focus on the regime of large interface
resistance compared to the resistance of the normal region, when the
electron-hole dephasing in the normal region is significant and the finite
length of the junction plays a role. In the limit of strong asymmetry we find
pronounced current structures at the combination subharmonics of
, where is the proximity minigap in the normal
region, in addition to the subharmonics of the energy gap in the
electrodes. In the limit of rather transparent interfaces, our theory recovers
a known formula for the current in a short mesoscopic connector - a convolution
of the current through a single-channel point contact with the transparency
distribution for an asymmetric double-barrier potential.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Spatially-resolved probing of a non-equilibrium superconductor
Spatially resolved relaxation of non-equilibrium quasiparticles in a
superconductor at ultra-low temperatures was experimentally studied. It was
found that the quasiparticle injection through a tunnel junction results in
modification of the shape of I-V characteristic of a remote `detector'
junction. The effect depends on temperature, injection current and proximity to
the injector. The phenomena can be understood in terms of creation of
quasiparticle charge and energy disequilibrium characterized by two different
length scales m and
m. The findings are in good agreement with existing phenomenological
models, while more elaborated microscopic theory is mandatory for detailed
quantitative comparison with experiment. The results are of fundamental
importance for understanding electron transport phenomena in various
nanoelectronic circuits.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
On the theory of Josephson effect in a diffusive tunnel junction
Specific features of the equilibrium current-carrying state of a Josephson
tunnel junction between diffusive superconductors are studied theoretically in
the 1D geometry. It is found that the Josephson current induces localized
states of electron excitations in the vicinity of the tunnel barrier, which are
a continuous analog of Andreev levels in a ballistic junction. The depth of the
corresponding ``potential well'' is much greater than the separation between an
Andreev level and the continuous energy spectrum boundary for the same
transmissivity of the barrier. In contrast to a ballistic junction in which the
Josephson current is transported completely by localized excitations, the
contribution to current in a diffusive junction comes from whole spectral
region near the energy gap boundary, where the density of states differs
considerably from its unperturbed value. The correction to the Josephson
current in the second order of the barrier transmissivity, which contains the
second harmonic of the phase jump, is calculated and it is found that the true
expansion parameter of the perturbation theory for a diffusive junction is not
the tunneling probability itself, but a much larger parameter .Comment: 8 pages, 5 Postscript figures, submitted to Low Temp. Phy
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