Superconductor-insulator transition in frustrated Josephson-junction arrays on a honeycomb lattice

Abstract

The zero-temperature superconductor to insulator transition is studied in a selfcharging model of Josephson-junction arrays on a honeycomb lattice in an external magnetic field corresponding to f flux quantum per plaquette. Path integral Monte Carlo simulations of the equivalent (2+1)-dimensional classical model are used to study the phase transition and critical behavior. For f = 1/3, the transition is first order. For f = 0 and f = 1/2, the transition is second order and the corresponding correlation length exponents are estimated from finite-size scaling.