Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling Regime Research Articles

Frustration effect on escape rate in Josephson junctions between single-band and three-band superconductors in the macroscopic quantum tunneling regime

The escape rate of S → R switching (from superconducting S state to resistive R state) in Josephson junction formed by s-wave single-band (SB) and three-band (ThB) superconductors (SB/ThB junctions) in macroscopic quantum tunneling regime is investigated. We use the effective critical current approximation in SB/ThB junctions. It was shown that escape rate can exhibit qualitative features in the case of frustration effects in ThB superconductors. Inclusion of Leggett modes in ThB superconductors leads to enhancement of escape rate in three-channel Josephson junction in comparison with single-channel junctions.

Influence of unconventional current-phase relation of Josephson junction on the escape rate in macroscopic quantum tunneling regime

In this study, we carried out the analysis of the quantum fluctuations on Josephson junction (JJ) dynamics with unconventional current-phase relation (CPR). We analyzed two case CPR: anharmonic term case and the case of Majorana term. The expression was obtained for the escape rate in macroscopic tunneling regime. It is shown that the changing of the escape rate JJ with unconventional CPR is determined by the renormalized critical current of JJ.

Josephson-like dynamics of the superconducting LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface

In this article, we show that the two-dimensional electron gas formed at the ${\mathrm{LaAlO}}_{3}/{\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ interface behaves as a Josephson junction array. In particular, it exhibits a stochastic switching of the superconducting critical current, which qualitatively follows the dynamics of the resistively and capacitively shunted Josephson junction model. The switching current distribution (SCD) has been measured as a function of temperature and back-gate voltage. At low temperatures a clear saturation of the standard deviation of the SCD is observed, possibly indicating the presence of a macroscopic quantum tunneling regime with phase diffusion. Through the gate voltage we modify the damping of the array and compare it to artificial arrays of junctions.

Effects of junction geometry in crossover temperature to macroscopic quantum tunneling regime of intrinsic Josephson junctions

We investigated the phase dynamics of long intrinsic Josephson junctions, which were fabricated on a narrow bridge structure of Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy (Bi-2212) single crystals by using a focused ion-beam etching. We measured the probability distribution of the switching events from the zero-voltage state for two types of junction geometry. One is a junction where the bridge width (L1) is larger than the Josephson penetration depth, λJ, and the distance between two slits (L2) is comparable to λJ, while the other is a junction where L1 is comparable to λJ and L2 is larger than λJ. We found that a crossover temperature from the thermally activated regime to the macroscopic quantum tunneling regime was quite different between the two types of junction geometry. We discuss the observed behavior in terms of an edge effect in long Josephson junctions dependent on the junction geometry.

Theory of two-dimensional macroscopic quantum tunneling inYBa2Cu3O7−δJosephson junctions coupled to an LC circuit

We investigate classical thermal activation (TA) and macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) for a YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) Josephson junction coupled to an LC circuit theoretically. Due to the coupling between the junction and the LC circuit, the macroscopic phase dynamics can be described as the escape process of a fictitious particle with an anisotropic mass moving in a two-dimensional potential. We analytically calculate the escape rate including both the TA and MQT regime by taking into account the peculiar dynamical nature of the system. In addtion to large suppression of the MQT rate at zero temperature, we study details of the temperature dependence of the escape rate across a crossover region. These results are in an excellent agreement with recent experimental data for the MQT and TA rate in a YBCO biepitaxial Josephson junction. Therefore the coupling to the LC circuit is essential in understanding the macroscopic quantum dynamics and the qubit operation based on the YBCO biepitaxial Josephson junctions.

Quantum nucleation and macroscopic quantum tunneling in cold-atom boson-fermion mixtures

The kinetics of the phase separation transition in boson-fermion cold-atom mixtures is investigated. We identify the parameters at which the transition is governed by a quantum nucleation mechanism, responsible for the formation of critical nuclei of a stable phase. We demonstrate that for low fermion-boson mass ratio the density dependence of the quantum nucleation transition rate is experimentally observable. The crossover to the macroscopic quantum tunneling regime is analyzed. Based on a microscopic description of interacting cold-atom boson-fermion mixtures, we derive an effective action for the critical droplet and obtain an asymptotic expression for the nucleation rate in the vicinity of the phase transition and near the spinodal instability of the mixed phase. We show that dissipation due to excitations in the fermion subsystem play a dominant role close to the transition point.

Detecting Current Noise with a Josephson Junction in the Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling Regime

We discuss the use of a hysteretic Josephson junction to detect current fluctuations with frequencies below the plasma frequency of the junction. These adiabatic fluctuations are probed by switching measurements observing the noise-affected average rate of macroscopic quantum tunneling of the detector junction out of its zero-voltage state. In a proposed experimental scheme, frequencies of the noise are limited by an on-chip filtering circuit. The third cumulant of current fluctuations at the detector is related to an asymmetry of the switching rates.

Shot-Noise-Driven Escape in Hysteretic Josephson Junctions

We have measured the influence of shot noise on hysteretic Josephson junctions initially in the macroscopic quantum tunneling regime. The escape threshold current into the resistive state decreases monotonically with increasing average current through the scattering conductor, which is another tunnel junction. Escape is predominantly determined by excitation due to the wideband shot noise. This process is equivalent to thermal activation (TA) over the barrier at effective temperatures up to about 4 times the critical temperature of the superconductor. The presented TA model is in excellent agreement with the experimental results.

Josephson Junction as a Detector of Poissonian Charge Injection

We propose a scheme of measuring the non-Gaussian character of noise by a hysteretic Josephson junction in the macroscopic quantum tunneling regime. We model the detector as an (under)damped LC resonator. It transforms Poissonian charge injection into current through the detector, which samples the injection statistics over a floating time window of length approximately Q/omega(J), where Q is the quality factor of the resonator and omega(J) its resonance frequency. This scheme ought to reveal the Poisson character of charge injection in a detector with realistic parameters.