We theoretically study the superconducting proximity effect in a quantum dot coupled to two superconducting leads when the intradot interaction between electrons is made attractive. Because of the superconducting proximity effect, the electronic states for the embedded quantum dot are either spin-polarized states with an odd occupation number or BCS-like states with an even occupation number. We show that in the presence of an external magnetic field, the system can exhibit quantum phase transitions of fermion parity associated with the occupation number. In this work, we adopt a self-consistent theoretical method to extend our considerations beyond the so-called superconducting atomic limit in which the superconducting gap for the leads is assumed to be the largest energy scale. The method enables us to numerically investigate the electronic structure of the dot as results of the attractive interaction. For energy phase diagrams in the regime away from the atomic limit, we find a reentrant behavior where a BCS-like phase of the dot exists in an intermediate range of the hybridization strength between the quantum dot and the leads. We also consider Josephson current phase relations and identify a number of examples showing $0-π$ phase transitions that may offer important switching effects.
A Josephson tunnel junction transistor based on quasiparticle injection is proposed. Its operation relies on the manipulation of the electron distribution in one of the junction electrodes. This is accomplished by injecting quasiparticle current through the junction electrode by two additional tunnel coupled superconductors. Both large supercurrent enhancement and fast quenching can be achieved with respect to equilibrium by varying quasiparticle injection for proper temperature regimes and suitable superconductor combinations. Joined with large power gain this makes the device attractive for …
Many practical applications of high T$_c$ superconductors involve layered materials and magnetic fields applied on an arbitrary direction with respect to the layers. When the anisotropy is very large, Cooper pair currents can circulate either within or perpendicular to the layers. Thus, tilted magnetic fields lead to intertwined lattices of Josephson and Abrikosov vortices, with quantized circulation across and within layers, respectively. Transport in such intertwined lattices has been studied in detail, but direct observation and manipulation of vortices remains challenging. Here we present …
We propose a mesoscopic kinetic-inductance radiation detector based on a long superconductor--normal metal--superconductor Josephson junction. The operation of this proximity Josephson sensor (PJS) relies on large kinetic inductance variations under irradiation due to the exponential temperature dependence of the critical current. Coupled with a dc SQUID readout, the PJS is able to provide a signal to noise (S/N) ratio up to ~10^3 in the THz regime if operated as calorimeter, while electrical noise equivalent power (NEP) as low as ~7x10^{-20} W(Hz)^(-1/2) at 200 mK can be achieved in the bolom…
We discuss how complex-oxide heterostructures that include high-Tc superconducting cuprates can be used to realize an array of sub-millimeter cavities that support Josephson plasmon polaritons. These cavities have several attractive features for new types of light matter interaction studies and we show that they promote "ultrastrong" coupling between THz frequency radiation and Josephson plasmons. Cavity electrodynamics of Josephson plasmons allows to manipulate the superconducting order-parameter phase coherence. As an example, we discuss how it could be used to cool superconducting phase flu…
Josephson tunnel junctions are widely used as nonlinear elements in superconducting circuits such as low noise amplifiers and quantum bits. However, microscopic defects in the oxide tunnel barrier can produce low and high frequency noise which can potentially limit the coherence times and quality factors of resonant circuits. Weak link Josephson junctions are an attractive alternative provided that sufficient nonlinearity can be engineered. We compute the current phase relation for superconducting weak links, with dimensions comparable to the zero temperature coherence length, connected to two…
Topological superconductivity holds promise for fault-tolerant quantum computing. While planar Josephson junctions are attractive candidates to realize this exotic state, direct phase-measurements as the fingerprint of the topological transition are missing. By embedding two gate-tunable Al/InAs Josephson junctions in a loop geometry, we measure a $π$-jump in the junction phase with increasing in-plane magnetic field, ${\bf B}_\|$. This jump is accompanied by a minimum of the critical current, indicating a closing and reopening of the superconducting gap, strongly anisotropic in ${\bf B}_\|$. …
We investigate the Josephson transport through a thin semiconductor barrier containing impurity centers with the on-site Hubbard interaction $u$ of an arbitrary sign and strength. We find that in the case of the repulsive interaction the Josephson current changes sign with the temperature increase if the energy of the impurity level $ε$ (measured from the Fermi energy of superconductors) falls in the interval $(-u,0)$. We predict strong temporal fluctuations of the current if only a few centers present within the junction. In the case of the attractive impurity potential ($u<0$) and at low tem…
The induced magnetic moment, provided by the bands electrons, is calculated in a variety of Josephson junctions with multilayered ferromagnetic (F) weak link. The noncollinear magnetization of the F layers provides the conditions necessary to generate triplet superconducting correlations. It leads to the long-range induced magnetic moment, emerging in the superconducting (S) layers. It is shown to be dependent on the Josephson phase. By tuning the Josephson current, one may control the long-range induced magnetic moment. Alternatively, applying the voltage we can generate an oscillatory magnet…
We consider two weakly coupled Richardson models to study the formation of a relative phase and the Josephson dynamics between two mesoscopic attractively interacting fermionic systems: our results apply to superconducting properties of coupled ultrasmall metallic grains and to Cooper-pairing superfluidity in neutral systems with a finite number of fermions. We discuss how a definite relative phase between the two systems emerges and how it can be conveniently extracted from the many-body wavefunction: we find that a definite relative phase difference emerges even for very small numbers of pai…
We present the driven response at T=30mK of 6 GHz superconducting resonators constructed from capacitively-shunted three dimensional (3D) aluminum nanobridge superconducting quantum interference devices (nanoSQUIDs). We observe flux modulation of the resonant frequency in quantitative agreement with numerical calculation and characteristic of near-ideal short weak link junctions. Under strong microwave excitation, we observe stable bifurcation in devices with coupled quality factor (Q) ranging from ~30-3500. Near this bias point, parametric amplification with > 20dB gain, 40 MHz bandwidth, and…
Intrinsic Josephson-junction stacks realized in high-temperature superconductors provide a very attractive base for developing coherent sources of electromagnetic radiation in the terahertz frequency range. A promising way to synchronize phase oscillations in all the junctions is to excite an internal cavity resonance. We demonstrate that this resonance promotes the formation of an alternating coherent state, in which the system spontaneously splits into two subsystems with different phase-oscillation patterns. There is a static phase shift between the oscillations in the two subsystems which …
Andreev scattering and the Josephson current through a one-dimensional interacting electron liquid sandwiched between two superconductors are re-examined. We first present some apparently new results on the non-interacting case by studying an exactly solvable tight-binding model rather than the usual continuum model. We show that perfect Andreev scattering (i.e. zero normal scattering) at the Fermi energy can only be achieved by fine-tuning junction parameters. We also obtain exact results for the Josephson current, which is generally a smooth function of the superconducting phase difference e…
We study vortex matter in layered superconductors in the limit of zero Josephson coupling. The long range of the interaction between pancake vortices in the c-direction allows us to employ a mean-field method: all attractive inter-layer interactions are reduced to an effective substrate potential, which pancakes experience in addition to the same-layer pancake repulsion. We perform numerical simulations of this mean-field model using two independent numerical implementations with different simulation methods (Monte-Carlo sampling and Langevin molecular dynamics). The substrate potential is upd…
Junction systems of odd-frequency (OF) superconductors are investigated based on a mean-field Hamiltonian formalism. One-dimensional two-channel Kondo lattice (TCKL) is taken as a concrete example of OF superconductors. Properties of normal and Andreev reflections are examined in a normal metal/superconductor junction. Unlike conventional superconductors, normal reflection is always present due to the normal self energy that necessarily appears in the present OF pairing state. The conductance reflects the difference between repulsive and attractive potentials located at the interface, which is…
A quantitative analysis of a microscopic model for the intrinsic Josephson effect in high-temperature superconductors based on interlayer tunneling is presented. The pairing correlations in the CuO_2-planes are modelled by a 2-D Hubbard-model with attractive interaction, a model which accounts well for some of the observed features such as the short planar coherence length. The stack of Hubbard planes is arranged on a torus, which is threaded by a magnetic flux. The current perpendicular to the planes is calculated as a function of applied flux (i. e. the phase), and -- after careful eliminati…
We first show that the many-body Hamiltonian governing the physical properties of an alkaline-earth Yb-173 Fermi gas across the recently-realized orbital Feshbach resonance is exactly analogous to that of two-band s-wave superconductors with contact interactions: i.e., even though the free-particle bands have a tunable energy offset in between and are coupled by a Josephson-type attractive inter-band pair scattering, the intra-band interactions have exactly the same strength. We then introduce two intra-band order parameters within the BCS mean-field approximation, and investigate the competit…
We theoretically investigate the temperature-to-phase conversion (TPC) process occurring in dc superconducting quantum interferometers based on superconductor--normal metal--superconductor (SNS) mesoscopic Josephson junctions. In particular, we predict the temperature-driven rearrangement of the phase gradients in the interferometer under the fixed constraints of fluxoid quantization and supercurrent conservation. This allows sizeable phase variations across the junctions for suitable structure parameters and temperatures. We show that the TPC can be a basis for sensitive single-photon sensors…
Recently, topological superconductors based on Josephson junctions in two-dimensional electron gases with strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling have been proposed as attractive alternatives to wire-based setups. Here, we elucidate how phase-controlled Josephson junctions based on quantum wells with [001] growth direction and an arbitrary combination of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling can also host Majorana bound states for a wide range of parameters as long as the magnetic field is oriented appropriately. Hence, Majorana bound states based on Josephson junctions can appear in a wide cla…
There is a wide recognition that Josephson-junction-like structures intrinsic to the layered cuprate high temperature superconductors offer an attractive stage for exploiting possible applications to new quantum technologies. On the other hand the low energy quasiparticle excitations characteristically present in these d-wave superconductors may easily destruct the coherence required. Here we demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of macroscopic quantum tunneling in the intrinsic Josephson junctions of a high temperature superconductor, and find it to be characterized by a high classic…
Multi-layered Josephson junctions are modeled in the context of a field theory, and dynamics of Josephson vortices trapped inside insulators are studied. Starting from a theory consisting of complex and real scalar fields coupled to a U(1) gauge field which admit parallel $N-1$ domain-wall solutions, Josephson couplings are introduced weakly between the complex scalar fields. The $N-1$ domain walls behave as insulators separating $N$ superconductors, where one of the complex scalar fields has a gap. We construct the effective Lagrangian on the domain walls, which reduces to a coupled sine-Gord…
The Josephson current-phase characteristics, that arise when a supercurrent flows across two fermionic superfluids separated by a potential barrier, can be controlled by varying either the inter-particle coupling or the temperature. While the coupling dependence has been addressed in detail both theoretically and experimentally for an attractive Fermi gas undergoing the BCS-BEC crossover, a corresponding study of the temperature dependence of the Josephson characteristics is still lacking in this context. Here, we investigate the combined coupling and temperature dependence of the Josephson ch…
We investigate finite-size quantum effects in the dynamics of $N$ bosonic particles which are tunneling between two sites adopting the two-site Bose-Hubbard model. By using time-dependent atomic coherent states (ACS) we extend the standard mean-field equations of this bosonic Josephson junction, which are based on time-dependent Glauber coherent states. In this way we find $1/N$ corrections to familiar mean-field (MF) results: the frequency of macroscopic oscillation between the two sites, the critical parameter for the dynamical macroscopic quantum self trapping (MQST), and the attractive cri…
Superconductors separated by a thin tunneling barrier exhibit the Josephson effect that allows charge transport at zero voltage, typically with no phase shift between the superconductors in the lowest energy state. Recently, Josephson junctions with ground state phase shifts of pi proposed by theory three decades ago have been demonstrated. In superconducting loops, pi-junctions cause spontaneous circulation of persistent currents in zero magnetic field, analogous to spin-1/2 systems. Here we image the spontaneous zero-field currents in superconducting networks of temperature-controlled pi-jun…
We use boundary field theory to describe the phases accessible to a tetrahedral qubit coupled to Josephson junction chains acting as Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid leads. We prove that, in a pertinent range of the fabrication and control parameters, an attractive finite coupling fixed point emerges due to the geometry of the composite Josephson junction network. We show that this new stable phase is characterized by the emergence of a quantum doublet which is robust not only against the noise in the external control parameters (magnetic flux, gate voltage) but also against the decoherence induced b…
We report on a self-consistent microscopic study of the DC Josephson effect in $SINIS$ junctions where screened dipole layers at the $SN$ interfaces generate a double-barrier multilayered $SIN$ structure. Our approach starts from a microscopic Hamiltonian defined on a simple cubic lattice, with an attractive Hubbard term accounting for the short coherence length superconducting order in the semi-infinite leads, and a spatially extended charge distribution (screened dipole layer) induced by the difference in Fermi energies of the superconductor $S$ and the clean normal metal interlayer $N$. By …
We study quantum information processing using superpositions of Fock states in superconducting resonators, as quantum $d$-level systems (qudits). A universal set of single and coupled logic gates is theoretically proposed for resonators coupled by superconducting circuits of Josephson juctions. These gates use experimentally demonstrated interactions, and provide an attractive route to quantum information processing using harmonic oscillator modes.
We have studied the electron transport properties of topological insulator-related material Bi2Se3 near the superconducting Pb-Bi2Se3 interface, and found that a superconducting state is induced over an extended volume in Bi2Se3. This state can carry a Josephson supercurrent, and demonstrates a gap-like structure in the conductance spectra as probed by a normal-metal electrode. The establishment of the gap is not by confining the electrons into a narrow space close to the superconductor-normal metal interface, as previously observed in other systems, but presumably via electron-electron attrac…
We find that in the presence of an electric field there is an attractive intergrain interaction in superconductors which is small. When charge on the ball is permitted to vary with the ball radius, very large balls can be formed. The pairing energy makes the ball compact and hence reduces the size of the ball compared with the classical value. The ball radius depends on the gap of the superconductor due to Josephson tunneling.
A Kapitza Pendulum Route to Supercurrent Tunnel Diodes
Istituto di Struttura della Materia of the National Research Council（国家研究委员会材料结构研究所）；Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics, IFW Dresden（德累斯顿IFW理论固体质物理研究所）；CNR-SPIN；Istituto Lombardo “Accademia di Scienze e Lettere”（伦巴第科学院与文学院）；NEST Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore（CNR纳米科学研究所NEST与比萨高等师范学院）；Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat（维尔茨堡-德累斯顿卓越集群ct.qmat）；Universitá di Salerno（萨莱诺大学）
Layered superconductors in tilted magnetic field have a very rich spectrum of vortex lattice configurations. In the presence of in-plane magnetic field, a small c-axis field penetrates in the form of isolated vortex chains. The structure of a single chain is mainly determined by the ratio of the London [$λ$] and Josephson [$λ_{J}$] lengths, $α= λ/λ_{J}$. At large $α$ the chain is composed of tilted vortices [tilted chains] and at small $α$ it consists of a crossing array of Josephson vortices and pancake stacks [crossing chains]. We studied the chain structures at intermediate $α$'s and found …
The emerging field of phase-coherent caloritronics (from the Latin word "calor", i.e., heat) is based on the possibility to control heat currents using the phase difference of the superconducting order parameter. The goal is to design and implement thermal devices able to master energy transfer with a degree of accuracy approaching the one reached for charge transport by contemporary electronic components. This can be obtained by exploiting the macroscopic quantum coherence intrinsic to superconducting condensates, which manifests itself through the Josephson and the proximity effect. Here, we…
In the presence of the Josephson vortex lattice in layered superconductors, a small c-axis magnetic field penetrates in the form of vortex chains. In general, the structure of a single chain is determined by the ratio of the London [$λ$] and Josephson [$λ_{J}$] lengths, $α= λ/λ_{J}$. The chain is composed of tilted vortices at large $α$'s (tilted chain) and at small $α$'s it consists of a crossing array of Josephson vortices and pancake-vortex stacks (crossing chain). We study chain structures at intermediate $α$'s and found two types of phase transitions. For $α\lesssim 0.6$ the ground state …
We show that an electronic phase separation (EPS) transition described by the an appropriate theory yields regions of low free energy forming grains of low and high charge densities. These local differences in the potential energy are studied numerically and used here for the first time as the origin of an attractive interaction that gives rise to local pair formation. The resistivity transition $T_c$ occurs due to Josephson coupling among these superconducting regions or grains. Using this approach within the Bogoliubov-deGennes calculations we derive the Gaussian shape of $T_c$ against the e…
We present an exhaustive theoretical analysis of charge and thermoelectric transport in a normal metal-ferromagnetic insulator-superconductor (NFIS) junction, and explore the possibility of its use as a sensitive thermometer. We investigated the transfer functions and the intrinsic noise performance for different measurement configurations. A common feature of all configurations is that the best temperature noise performance is obtained in the non-linear temperature regime for a structure based on an europium chalcogenide ferromagnetic insulator in contact with a superconducting Al film struct…
Superconducting high kinetic inductance elements constitute a valuable resource for quantum circuit design and millimeter-wave detection. Granular aluminum (GrAl) in the superconducting regime is a particularly interesting material since it has already shown a kinetic inductance in the range of nH$/\Box$ and its deposition is compatible with conventional Al/AlOx/Al Josephson junction fabrication. We characterize microwave resonators fabricated from GrAl with a room temperature resistivity of $4 \times 10^3\,μΩ\cdot$cm, which is a factor of 3 below the superconductor to insulator transition, sh…
We have developed a generalized electronic phase separation model of high-temperature cuprate superconductors that links the two distinct energy scales of the superconducting (SC) and pseudogap (PG) phases via a charge-density-wave (CDW) state. We show that simulated electronic-density modulations resembling the charge order (CO) modulations detected in cuprates intertwine the SC and charge orders by localizing charge and providing the energy scale for a spatially periodic SC attractive potential. Bulk superconductivity is achieved with the inclusion of Josephson coupling between nanoscale dom…
The recently discovered oxypnictide superconductor SmFeAs(O,F) is the most attractive material among the Fe-based superconductors due to its highest transition temperature of 56 K and potential for high-field performance. In order to exploit this new material for superconducting applications, the knowledge and understanding of its electro-magnetic properties are needed. Recent success in fabricating epitaxial SmFeAs(O,F) thin films opens a great opportunity to explore their transport properties. Here we report on a high critical current density of over 10^5 A/cm^2 at 45 T and 4.2 K for both ma…
Superconducting quantum information processing machines are predominantly based on microwave circuits with relatively low characteristic impedance, of about 100 Ohm, and small anharmonicity, which can limit their coherence and logic gate fidelity. A promising alternative are circuits based on so-called superinductors, with characteristic impedances exceeding the resistance quantum $R_Q = 6.4$ k$Ω$. However, previous implementations of superinductors, consisting of mesoscopic Josephson junction arrays, can introduce unintended nonlinearity or parasitic resonant modes in the qubit vicinity, degr…
The distinctive features of equilibrium vortex structures in thin films of anisotropic superconductors in tilted magnetic fields are studied for the limits of moderate and strong anisotropy. The energetically favorable shape of isolated vortex lines is found in the framework of two particular models describing these limiting cases: London theory with an anisotropic mass tensor and London-type model for a stack of Josephson--decoupled superconducting layers. The increase of the field tilting is shown to result in qualitative changes in the vortex--vortex interaction potential: the balance betwe…
A superconducting wire described by a p-wave pairing and a Kitaev Hamiltonian exhibits Majorana fermions at its edges and is topologically protected by symmetry. We consider two Kitaev wires (chains) coupled by a Coulomb type interaction and study the complete phase diagram using analytical and numerical techniques. A topological superconducting phase with four Majorana fermions occurs until moderate interactions between chains. For large interactions, both repulsive and attractive, by analogy with the Hubbard model, we identify Mott phases with Ising type magnetic order. For repulsive interac…
The recent discovery of iron pnictide superconductors has resulted in a rapidly growing interest in multiband models with more than two bands. In this work we specifically focus on the properties of three-band Ginzburg-Landau models which do not have direct counterparts in more studied two-band models. First we derive normal modes and characteristic length scales in the conventional U(1) three-band Ginzburg-Landau model as well as in its time reversal symmetry broken counterpart with $U(1)\times Z_2$ symmetry. We show that in the latter case, the normal modes are mixed phase/density collective…
