Theory of Josephson Phenomena in Superfluid 3He

Quite detailed theoretical description of superfluid 3He is possible on length scales that are much larger than the atomic scale. We discuss weak links between two bulk states of 3He-B. The current through the weak link is determined by the bound states at the link. The bound state energies are spin split depending on the order parameters in the bulk. As a result, unusual current-phase relations with pi state appear. For not too weak links, the order parameter in the bulk is modified because of the Josephson coupling. This leads to a stronger pi state and to an additional current at constant pressure bias. The theoretical results are compared with experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, talk on LT-24, Orlando, Florid

Elementary vortex pinning potential in superconductors with unconventional order parameter

The elementary vortex pinning potential is studied in unconventional superconductors within the framework of the quasiclassical theory of superconductivity. Numerical results are presented for d-, anisotropic s-, and isotropic s-wave superconductors to show explicitly that in unconventional superconductors the vortex pinning potential is determined mainly by the loss of the condensation energy in bulk due to the presence of the pinning center, i.e., by the breakdown of the Anderson's theorem. It is found that the vortex pinning energy in the d-wave pairing case is 4 -- 13 times larger than those in the s-wave pairing cases. This means that an enhancement of pinning effect in unconventional superconductors occurs due to the breakdown of the Anderson's theorem. The case of a chiral p-wave superconductor is also investigated in terms of the vortex core states subject to the Andreev reflection, where important is whether the vorticity and chirality are parallel or antiparallel.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures included; paper for Proceedings of the symposium SDP2001, Tokyo, 200