We present a theoretical study of coherent quantum dynamics of a single magnetic fluxon (MF) trapped in Josephson junction parallel arrays (JJPAs) with large kinetic inductances. The MF is the topological excitation carrying one quantum of magnetic flux, $Φ_0$. The MF is quantitatively described as the $2π$-kink in the distribution of Josephson phases, and for JJPAs with high kinetic inductances the characteristic length of such distribution ("the size" of MF) is drastically reduced. Characterizing such MFs by the Josephson phases of three consecutive Josephson junctions we analyse the various coherent macroscopic quantum effects in the MF quantum dynamics. In particular, we obtain the MF energy band originating from the coherent quantum tunnelling of a single MF between adjacent cells of JJPAs. The dependencies of the band width $Δ$ on the Josephson coupling energy $E_J$, charging energy $E_C$ and the inductive energy of a cell $E_L$, are studied in detail. In long linear JJPAs the coherent quantum dynamics of MF demonstrates decaying quantum oscillations with characteristic frequency $f_{qb}=Δ/h$. In short annular JJPAs the coherent quantum dynamics of MF displays complex oscillations controlled by the Aharonov-Casher phase $χ\propto V_g$, where $V_g$ is an externally applied gate voltage. In the presence of externally applied dc bias, $I$, a weakly incoherent dynamics of quantum MF is realized in the form of macroscopic Bloch oscillations leading to a typical "nose" current-voltage characteristics of JJPAs. As ac current with frequency $f$ is applied the current-voltage characteristics displays a set of equidistant current steps at $I_n=2en f$.
The dynamics of fluxons in long Josephson junctions is a well-known example of soliton physics and allows for studying highly nonlinear relativistic electrodynamics on a microscopic scale. Such fluxons are supercurrent vortices that can be accelerated by a bias current up to the Swihart velocity, which is the characteristic velocity of electromagnetic waves in the junction. We experimentally demonstrate slowing down relativistic fluxons in Josephson junctions whose bulk superconducting electrodes are replaced by thin films of a high kinetic inductance superconductor. Here, the amount of magnet…
The interaction of a Josephson fluxon with an external magnetic field-induced potential in a long Josephson junction is investigated experimentally. The thermal activation of the fluxon from a potential well is observed and experiments probing its predicted quantum properties are discussed. A method for engineering a magnetic double-well potential for a fluxon is proposed and the use of the coupled fluxon states for quantum computation is suggested.
We investigate the effects of high-Q_c resonant cavity on macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) of fluxon both from a metastable state to continuum and from one degenerate ground-state of a double-well potential to the other. By using a set of two coupled perturbed sine-Gordon equations, we describe the tunneling processes in linear long Josephson junctions (LJJs) and find that MQT in the resonant cavity increases due to potential renomalization, induced by the interaction between the fluxon and cavity.Enhancement of the MQT rate in the weak-coupling regime is estimated by using the experimantal…
The statics and dynamics of magnetic flux quanta (fluxons) in long annular Josephson tunnel junctions have been investigated. Pinning by interaction of the fluxon field outside the junction with the superconducting wiring has been observed in spatially resolving measurements using low-temperature scanning electron microscopy. We were able to influence the characteristics of this field by carefully modifying the beam-induced fluxon trapping procedure. In this way we were able to select the pinning site acting on the fluxon.
We study numerically and analytically the shape of a single fluxon moving in a double stacked Josephson junctions (SJJ's) for various junction parameters. We show that the fluxon in a double SJJ's consists of two components, which are characterized by different Swihart velocities and Josephson penetration depths. The weight coefficients of the two components depend on the parameters of the junctions and the velocity of the fluxon. It is shown that the fluxon in SJJ's may have an unusual shape with an inverted magnetic field in the second junction when the velocity of the fluxon is approaching …
We prove that the equation modelling an annular Josephson junction has a rotating fluxon wave for all values of the parameters. We also obtain results on uniqueness of the rotating fluxon wave in some parameter regimes, and results on multiplicity of rotating fluxon waves in other parameter regimes.
We investigate theoretically the interaction between integer and half-integer Josephson vortices (fluxons and semifluxons) in an annular Josephson junction. Semifluxons usually appear at the 0-$π$-boundary where there is a $π$-discontinuity of the Josephson phase. We study the simplest, but the most interesting case of one $π$-discontinuity in a loop, which can be created only artificially. We show that measuring the current-voltage characteristic after injection of an integer fluxon, one can determine the polarity of a semifluxon. Depending on the relative polarity of fluxon and semifluxon th…
The fluxon dynamics in a long Josephson junction with a ferromagnetic insulating layer is investigated. It is found that the Josephson phase obeys a double sine-Gordon equation involving a bound pi fluxon solution, and the internal oscillations of the bound pair acting as a clock exhibit Lorentz reductions in their frequencies regarded as a relativistic effect in the time domain, i.e., time dilation. This is the complement to the Lorentz contraction of fluxons with no clock. A possible observation scheme is also discussed.
Dynamics of a fluxon in a stack of inductively coupled long Josephson junctions is studied analytically and numerically. We demonstrate that the fluxon has a maximum velocity, which does not necessarily coincide with any of the characteristic Josephson plasma wave velocities. The maximum fluxon velocity is found by means of numerical simulations of the quasi-infinite system. Using the variational approximation, we propose a simple analytical formula for the dependence of the fluxon's maximum velocity on the coupling constant and on the distribution of critical currents in different layers. Thi…
We derive an approximate analytic solution for a single fluxon in a double stacked Josephson junctions (SJJ's) for arbitrary junction parameters and coupling strengths. It is shown that the fluxon in a double SJJ's can be characterized by two components, with different Swihart velocities and Josephson penetration depths. Using the perturbation theory we find the second order correction to the solution and analyze its accuracy. Comparison with direct numerical simulations shows a quantitative agreement between exact and approximate analytic solutions. It is shown that due to the presence of two…
Two-fluxon state in an annular Josephson junction in the presence of external magnetic field is studied analytically, numerically and experimentally. We obtain an analytical expression for the potential of interaction between the fluxons moving at arbitrary velocities (without the use of the "nonrelativistic" approximation). Treating the fluxons as quasi-particles, we then derive equations of motion for them. Direct simulations of the full extended sine-Gordon equation are in good agreement with results produced by the analytical model, in a relevant parameter region. Experimental data qualita…
We report a detailed theoretical study of a coherent macroscopic quantum-mechanical phenomenon - quantum beats of a single magnetic fluxon trapped in a two-cell SQUID of high kinetic inductance. We calculate numerically and analytically the low-lying energy levels of the fluxon, and explore their dependence on externally applied magnetic fields. The quantum dynamics of the fluxon shows quantum beats originating from its coherent quantum tunneling between the SQUID cells. We analyze the experimental setup based on a three-cell SQUID, allowing for time-resolved measurements of quantum beats of t…
We study experimentally and theoretically the influence of phase-whirling (resistive) state in one junction of a two-fold Josephson stack on the fluxon motion in the other junction. In experiment, we measure the fluxon velocity versus current in one junction as a function of the state (Meissner or resistive) of the neighboring junction. The analysis, made for the limit of high fluxon density, shows that the interaction with the resistive state results in an increase of the effective damping for the moving fluxon and, therefore, in reduction of its velocity. Numerical simulations confirm this r…
We consider fluxon dynamics in a stack of inductively coupled long Josephson junctions connected capacitively to a common resonant cavity at one of the boundaries. We study, through theoretical and numerical analysis, the possibility for the cavity to induce a transition from the energetically favored state of spatially separated shuttling fluxons in the different junctions to a high velocity, high energy state of identical fluxon modes.
A single magnetic fluxon moving at a high velocity in a Josephson multilayer (e.g., high-temperature superconductor such as BSCCO) can emit electromagnetic waves (Cherenkov radiation), which leads to formation of novel stable dynamic states consisting of several bunched fluxons. We find such bunched states in numerical simulation in the simplest cases of two and three coupled junctions. At a given driving current, several different bunched states are stable and move at velocities that are higher than corresponding single-fluxon velocity. These and some of the more complex higher-order bunched …
It has been argued by Zurek and Kibble that the likelihood of producing defects in a continuous phase transition depends in a characteristic way on the quench rate. In this paper we discuss our experiment for measuring the Zurek-Kibble scaling exponent sigma for the production of fluxons in annular symmetric Josephson Tunnel Junctions. The predicted exponent is sigma = 0.25, and we find sigma = 0.27 +/- 0.05. Further, there is agreement with the ZK prediction for the overall normalisation.
We study theoretically the dynamics of a fluxon Lattice (FL) in two coupled Josephson junctions. We show that when the velocity of the moving FL exceeds certain values $(V_{a,b})$, sharp resonances arise in the system which are related to the excitation of the optical and acoustic collective modes. In the interval $(V_a, V_b)$ a reconstruction of the FL occurs. We also establish that one can excite localized nonlinear distortions (dislocations) which may propagate through the FL and carry an arbitrary magnetic flux.
We study the thermal depinning of single fluxons in rings made of Josephson junctions. Due to thermal fluctuations a fluxon can be excited from its energy minima and move through the array, causing a voltage across each junction. We find that for the initial depinning, the fluxon behaves as a single particle and follows a Kramers-type escape law. However, under some conditions this single particle description breaks down. At low values of the discreteness parameter and low values of the damping, the depinning rate is larger than the single particle result would suggest. In addition, for some v…
We present a theoretical and experimental study of Josephson vortex (fluxon) moving in the presence of spatially homogeneous dc and ac bias currents. By mapping this problem to the problem of calculating the current-voltage characteristic of a small Josephson junction, we derive the dependence of the average fluxon velocity on the dc bias current. In particular we find that the low frequency ac bias current results in an additional nonlinear damping of fluxon motion. Such ac induced damping crucially depends on the intrinsic damping parameter and increases drastically as this parameter is redu…
Examination of an annular system of underdamped Josephson junctions in the presence of external radiation showed that the ability of the system to lock with some external radiation was determined not only by the number but also by the type of rotating excitations (fluxons or antifluxons). Shapiro steps can be observed in the current-voltage characteristics only in the system with trapped fluxons or in the system with fluxon-antifluxon pairs. If the trapped fluxons circulate simultaneously with fluxon-antifluxon pairs, there are no Shapiro steps regardless of the amplitude or frequency of the a…
We show that Infrared radiation impinging onto a 1-d array of grooves drilled in the superconductor electrode of a long overlap junction can improve matching between fluxon oscillations at THz frequencies and a spoof plasmon of comparable wavelength. This example proves that metamaterials can be very helpful in integrating superconductive and subwavelength optical circuits with optimized matching bridging the gap between infrared and microwave radiation.
We present a systematic study of the Cherenkov radiation of Josephson plasma waves by fast moving fluxon in a stack of coupled long Josephson junctions for different fluxon modes. It is found that at some values of parameters current-voltage characteristic may exhibit a region of the back-bending on the fluxon step. In the opposite limit the emission of the Cherenkov radiation takes place. In the annular junctions of moderate length the interaction of the emitted waves with fluxon results in the novel resonances which emerge on the top of the fluxon step. We present more exact formulas which d…
The dynamical behavior of a fluxon in a semi-annular long Josephson junction in the presence of an ac-drive is studied. The non-uniformity due to the non uniform distribution of bias current is investigated. The oscillating potential is found to increase the depinning current. Finite difference method is used for numerical analysis and the response of the system to the ac-bias is studied. The creation and annihilation of fluxon is also demonstrated numerically for the first, second and third Zero-Field step cases.
We report on the spontaneous production of fluxons in the presence of a symmetry-breaking magnetic field for annular Josephson tunnel junctions during a thermal quench. The dependence on field intensity $B$ of the probability $\bar{f_1}$ to trap a single defect during the N-S phase transition drastically depends on the sample circumferences. We show that the data can be understood in the framework of the Kibble-Zurek picture of spontaneous defect formation controlled by causal bounds.
A novel dynamical state has been observed in the dynamics of a perdurbed sine-Gordon system. This resonant state, has been experimentally observed as a singularity in the dc current voltage characteristic of an annular Josephson tunnel junction, excited in the presence of a magnetic field. With this respect, it can be assimilated to self-resonances known as Fiske steps. Differently from these, however, we demonstrate, on the basis of numerical simulations, that its detailed dynamics involves rotating fluxon pairs, a mechanism associated, so far, to self-resonances known as zero-field steps.
Experimental observation of the unidirectional motion of a topological soliton driven by a bi-harmonic ac force of zero mean is reported. The observation is made by measuring the current-voltage characteristics for a fluxon trapped in an annular Josephson junction that was placed into a microwave field. The measured dependence of the fluxon mean velocity (rectified voltage) at zero dc bias versus the phase shift between the first and second harmonic of the driving force is in qualitative agreement with theoretical expectations.
We investigate analytically long Josephson junctions with phase pi-discontinuity points. Such junctions are usually fabricated as a ramp between a superconductor like YBCO with d-wave symmetry of the order parameter and an s-wave superconductor like Nb. From the top, they look like zigzags with pi-jumps of the Josephson phase at the corners. These pi-jumps, at certain conditions, lead to the formation of half-integer flux quanta, which we call semi-fluxons, pinned at the corners. We derive a version of sine-Gordon equation which describes the dynamics of the Josephson phase in such structures,…
Localized quasiparticles in a fluxonium with quasi-two-dimensional amorphous kinetic inductors
University of Colorado Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校）；National Institute of Standards and Technology（美国国家标准与技术研究院）；Northwestern University（西北大学）；Budapest University of Technology and Economics（布达佩斯技术与经济大学）
Experiments towards realizing a readout of superconducting qubits by using ballistic Josephson vortices are reported. We measured the microwave radiation induced by a fluxon moving in an annular Josephson junction. By coupling a flux qubit as a current dipole to the annular junction, we detect periodic variations of the fluxon's oscillation frequency versus magnetic flux through the qubit. We found that the scattering of a fluxon on a current dipole can lead to the acceleration of a fluxon regardless of a dipole polarity. We use the perturbation theory and numerical simulations of the perturbe…
It has been argued by Zurek and Kibble that the likelihood of producing defects in a continuous phase transition depends in a characteristic way on the quench rate. In this paper we discuss our experiment for measuring the Zurek-Kibble scaling exponent $σ$ for the production of fluxons in annular symmetric Josephson Tunnel Junctions. The predicted exponent is $% σ=0.25$, and we find $σ=0.27\pm 0.05$. Further, there is agreement with the ZK prediction for the overall normalisation.
We show numerically that, in a Josephson ladder with periodic boundary conditions and subject to a suitable transverse magnetic field, a vortex excitation can spontaneously break up into two or more fractional excitations. If the ladder has N plaquettes, and N is divisible by an integer q, then in an applied transverse field of 1/q flux quanta per plaquette the ground state is a regular pattern of one fluxon every q plaquettes. When one additional fluxon is added to the ladder, it breaks up into q fractional fluxons, each carrying 1/q units of vorticity. The fractional fluxons are basically wa…
Interaction of a fluxon in the two-dimensional large Josephson junction with the finite area inhomogeneity is studied within the sine-Gordon theory. The spectral density of the emitted plane waves is computed exactly for the rectangular and rhombic inhomogeneities. Total emitted energy as a function of the fluxon velocity exhibits at least one local maximum. Connection to the previously studied limiting cases including the point impurity and the one-dimensional limit has been performed. An important feature o f the emitted energy as a function of the fluxon velocity is a clear maximum (or maxi…
Modulation of the critical current across layers, Ic(H), of stacked Josephson junctions (SJJs) as a function of an applied magnetic field parallel to the junction planes is studied theoretically and experimentally for different junction lengths and coupling parameters. It is shown that the Ic(H) patterns of long SJJs are very complicated without periodicity in H. This is due to interaction between junctions in the stack. This, in turn, gives rise to the existence of multiple quasi-equilibrium Josephson fluxon modes and submodes which are different with respect to the symmetry of the phase and …
Simulation of a rapid qubit readout dependent on the transmission of a single fluxon
University of Otago（奥塔哥大学）；Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, University of Otago（奥塔哥大学多德-沃尔斯光子和量子技术中心）；The Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the University of Maryland（马里兰大学物理科学实验室）；The Quantum Materials Center, University of Maryland（马里兰大学量子材料中心）；The Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland（马里兰大学联合量子研究所）
Appearance and origin of resonance phenomena have been studied in the annular system of underdamped Josephson junctions. If no fluxon is trapped in the system, dynamics is governed by the motion of fluxon-antifluxon pairs, while if trapped fluxons are present, they can move solely but also simultaneously with the pairs. Locking between the rotating excitations (fluxons and antifluxons) and the Josephson frequency leads to the appearance of zero field steps in the current-voltage characteristics, which can further exhibit branching due to resonance between the rotating excitations and plasma os…
We propose a generalisation of dispersive qubit readout which provides the time evolution of a flux qubit observable. Our proposal relies on the non-linear coupling of the qubit to a harmonic oscillator with high frequency, representing a dc-SQUID. Information about the qubit dynamics is obtained by recording the oscillator response to resonant driving and subsequent lock-in detection. The measurement process is simulated for the example of coherent qubit oscillations. This corroborates the underlying measurement relation and also reveals that the measurement scheme possesses low backaction an…
Graph states are a special kind of multiparticle entangled state with great potential for applications in quantum information technologies, especially in measurement-based quantum computers. These states cause significant reductions of the number of qubits needed for a given computation, leading to shorter execution time. Here we propose a simple scheme for generating such graph states by using special gate operations, i.e., control-phase and swap gate operations, inherent in superconducting quantum nanocircuits.
A quantum-mechanical model for the interaction of Josephson vortices (fluxons) embedded in superconducting transmission line is presented. The vortices interact through emission and absorption of linear waves (electromagnetic cavity modes). We show that in a classical regime this peculiar type of interaction is determined by the product of instantaneous velocities of fluxons. In a quantum regime, this property provides tunable coupling between vortices which can be used for entanglement of vortex qubits. The physical mechanism of the vortex interaction is similar to that proposed for qubits ba…
We describe the dynamics of fluxons moving in a frustrated Josephson junction with p, d, and f-wave symmetry and calculate the I-V characteristics. The behavior of fluxons is quite distinct in the long and short length junction limit. For long junctions the intrinsic flux is bound at the center and the moving integer fluxon or antifluxon interacts with it only when it approaches the junction's center. For small junctions the intrinsic flux can move as a bunched type fluxon introducing additional steps in the I-V characteristics. Possible realization in quantum computation is presented.
We investigate the phase dynamics of a long Josephson junction (LJJ) with two-gap superconductors. In this junction, two channels for tunneling between the adjacent superconductor (S) layers as well as one interband channel within each S layer are available for a Cooper pair. Due to the interplay between the conventional and interband Josephson effects, the LJJ can exhibit unusual phase dynamics. Accounting for excitation of a stable 2$π$-phase texture arising from the interband Josephson effect, we find that the critical current between the S layers may become both spatially and temporally mo…
A report of numerical experiment results on long Josephson junction with one and two rectangular inhomogeneities in the barrier layer is presented. In case of one inhomogeneity we demonstrate the existence of the asymmetric fluxon states. The disappearance of mixed fluxon-antifluxon states when the position of inhomogeneity shifted to the end of the junction is shown. In case with two inhomogeneities the change of the amplitude of Josephson current through the inhomogeneity at the end of junction makes strong effect on the stability of the fluxon states and smoothes the maximums on the depende…
We study static and dynamical properties of fluxons in a long annular Josephson junction (JJ) with a current injected at one point and collected back at a close point. Uniformly distributed dc bias current is applied too. We demonstrate that, in the limit of the infinitely small size of the current dipole, the critical value of the bias current density, above which static phase distributions do not exist, that was recently found (in the Fraunhofer's analytical form) for the annular JJ with the length much smaller than the Josephson penetration length, is valid irrespective of the junction's le…
By using a highly sensitive homemade AC magnetic susceptibility technique, the magnetic flux penetration has been measured in YBa_2Cu_3O_7 single crystals with giant screw dislocations (having the structure of the Archimedean spirals) exhibiting a=3 spiral turnings, the pitch b=18.7 microns and the step height c=1.2nm (the last parameter is responsible for creation of extended weak-link structure around the giant defects). The magnetic field applied parallel to the surface enters winding around the weak-link regions of the screw in the form of the so-called spiral Josephson fluxons characteriz…
We have investigated the Josephson inductance $L_J$ of a Superconducting Cooper Pair Transistor (SCPT). We traced the inductance using microwave reflection measurements on a tuned resonance circuit in which a SCPT was mounted in parallel to a $ \sim 200$ pH strip line inductance. When the inverse of the Josephson inductance, determined on the charge-phase bias plane for a SCPT with a Josephson to Coulomb energy ratio of $E_J/E_C =1.75$, is integrated over the phase, we obtain a current-phase relation, which is strongly non-sinusoidal near the charge degeneracy point.
Interaction of the fluxon with the finite size dipole impurity in the long Josephson junction is investigated. The impurity has polarity and will be referred to as a {\it dipole} impurity because it also has a direction and, consequently, changes its sign under the space inversion transform $x \to -x$. Such a model is used to describe the inductively coupled to the Josephson transmission line qubit and the misaligned Abrikosov vortex that penetrates into the long Josephson junction. We derive the approximate equations of motion for the fluxon center of mass and its velocity. With the help of t…
I derive an approximate analytic solution for the in-plane vortex (fluxon) in layered superconductors and stacked Josephson junctions (SJJ's) with arbitrary number of layers. The validity of the solution is verified by numerical simulation. It is shown that in SJJ's with large number of thin layers, phase/current and magnetic field of the fluxon are decoupled from each other. The variation of phase/current is confined within the Josephson penetration depth, $λ_J$, along the layers, while magnetic field decays at the effective London penetration depth, $λ_c \gg λ_J$. For comparison with real hi…
We present simultaneous measurements of Josephson inductance and DC transport characteristics of ballistic Josephson junctions based upon an epitaxial Al-InAs heterostructure. The Josephson inductance at finite current bias directly reveals the current-phase relation. The proximity-induced gap, the critical current and the average value of the transparency $\barτ$ are extracted without need for phase bias, demonstrating, e.g.,~a near-unity value of $\barτ=0.94$. Our method allows us to probe the devices deeply in the non-dissipative regime, where ordinary transport measurements are featureless…
The physics of Josephson tunnel junctions drastically depends on their geometrical configurations and here we show that also tiny geometrical details play a determinant role. More specifically, we develop the theory of short and long confocal annular Josephson tunnel junctions in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field of arbitrary orientations. The behavior of a circular annular Josephson tunnel junction is then seen to be simply a special case of the above result. For junctions having a normalized perimeter less than one the threshold curves are derived and computed even in the case with …
We show that the electrical impedance of a small-capacitance Josephson junction includes besides the capacitive term $-i/ωC_B$ also an inductive term $iωL_B$. Similar to the known Bloch capacitance $C_B(q)$, the Bloch inductance $L_B(q)$ also depends periodically on the quasicharge $q$, and its maximum value achieved at $q=e (\textrm{mod} 2e)$ always exceeds the value of the Josephson inductance of this junction $L_J(ϕ)$ at fixed $ϕ=0$. The effect of the Bloch inductance on the dynamics of a single junction and a one-dimensional array is described.
The in-phase (rectangular) fluxon lattice is required for achieving coherent THz emission from stacked Josephson junctions. Unfortunately, it is usually unstable due to mutual repulsion of fluxons in neighbor junctions, which favors the out-of-phase (triangular) lattice. Here we experimentally study magnetic field modulation of the critical current in small Bi-2212 mesa structures with different sizes. A clear Fraunhofer-like modulation is observed when the field is aligned strictly parallel to superconducting CuO planes. For long mesas the periodicity of modulation is equal to half the flux q…
The RCSJ (Resistor-Capacitor Shunted Junction) model provides us an analytical formula for the conversion efficiency for a resonant Josephson effect mixer. An external rf signal is applied to a long Josephson junction operating in the fluxon oscillating regime. The sine-Gordon equation is used to investigate the dynamics of the phase-locking between the fluxon oscillations and the external signal. We obtain that it is possible to have conversion efficiency greater than unity.
We study numerically and analytically the properties of a one-dimensional array of parallel Josephson junctions in which every {\em alternate} junction is a $π$ junction. In the ground state of the array, each cell contains spontaneous magnetic flux $Φ\leqΦ_{0}/2$ which shows {\em antiferromagnetic} ordering along the array. We find that an externally introduced $2π$-fluxon $Φ_{0}$ in such an array is unstable and fractionalizes into two $π$ fluxons of magnitude ${1/2}Φ_{0}$. We attribute this fractionalization to the degeneracy of the ground state of the array. The magnitude of the flux in th…
In recent years there has been an intensive search for Majorana fermion states in condensed matter systems. Predicted to be localized on cores of vortices in certain non-conventional superconductors, their presence is known to render the exchange statistics of bulk vortices non-Abelian. Here we study the equations governing the dynamics of phase solitons (fluxons) in a long Josephson junction in a topological superconductor. We show that the fluxon will bind a localized zero energy Majorana mode and will consequently behave as a non-Abelian anyon. The low mass of the fluxon, as well as its exp…
We simulate two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays, including full mutual- inductance effects, as they are cooled below the transition temperature in a magnetic field. We show numerical simulations of the array magnetization as a function of position, as detected by a scanning SQUID which is placed at a fixed height above the array. The calculated magnetization images show striking agreement with the experimental images obtained by A. Nielsen et al. The average array magnetization is found to be paramagnetic for many values of the applied field, confirming that paramagnetism can arise from …
