Multiple-retrapping processes in the phase-diffusion regime of high-Tcintrinsic Josephson junctions

Abstract

We report measurements of switching current distribution ͑SWCD͒ from a phase-diffusion branch ͑PDB͒ to a quasiparticle-tunneling branch ͑QTB͒ as a function of temperature in a cuprate-based intrinsic Josephson junction. Contrary to the thermal-activation model, the width of the SWCD increases and the corresponding switching rate shows a nonlinear behavior with a negative curvature in a semilogarithmic scale with decreasing temperature down to 1.5 K. Based on the multiple-retrapping model, we quantitatively demonstrate that the frequency-dependent junction quality factor, representing the energy dissipation in a phase-diffusion regime, determines the observed temperature dependence of the SWCD and the switching rate. We also show that a retrapping process from the QTB to the PDB is related to the low-frequency limit damping.

Thermal hopping and retrapping of a Brownian particle in the tilted periodic potential of a NbN/MgO/NbN Josephson junction

“…On the other hand this model, which assumes separated levels in the metastable well, is not properly valid for a single Josephson junction since the number of energy levels is large and the separation is smaller than their width. Männik et al 3 and Bae et al 6 calculated the retrapping probability through Monte Carlo simulations and included frequency dependent damping. The authors expressed the net escape rate as a sum of probabilities of multiple escape-retrapping events based on thermal escape rate and retrapping probability.…”

“…The quality of the fitting procedure is even more significant if we consider that we do not have any degree of freedom associated to a possible frequency dependence of Q as occurring in other experiments 1, 3,6 . For instance the procedure used for our analysis is different from that used by Männik et al 3 , where retrapping probability is calculated independently for different dissipations.…”

“…There is a growing evidence of the occurrence of a moderately damped regime (MDR) in superconducting Josephson junctions (JJs) of various materials [1][2][3][4][5][6] . If we use the Q = ω p RC parameter as a measure of dissipation in a junction 7,8 , where ω p = (2eI c / C) 1/2 represents the plasma frequency at zero bias current, I c is the junction critical current and C and R are the junction capacitance and resistance, a MDR is present for 1 < Q < 5.…”

Complete gate control of supercurrent in graphene p–n junctions

“…RT Þ lnð1 À P RT Þ. P RT is obtained from integration of the retrapping rate 54,55 G RT ¼ o p ½ð1 À I r0 Þ=I c0 ðE J0 =2pk B TÞ 1=2 expð À DU RT =k B TÞ, with the retrapping potential barrier DU RT (I) ¼ (E J0 Q 0 2 /2)[(I-I r0 )/I c0 ] 2 , where I r0 is the fluctuation-free retrapping current and Q 0 ¼ 4I c0 /pI r0 . P(I c ) in the TA regime has a left-tailed asymmetric shape.…”

Dynamics of superconducting nanowires shunted with an external resistor

“…This effect has been observed in the voltage-current (V -I) characteristics, which are greatly altered by the amount of dissipation. The statistics of the switching and retrapping behavior in shunted JJs have been investigated in last three decades and continues to be actively studied [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] . In general, the retrapping current, which is inversely proportional to the quality factor Q of the circuit, is more sensitive to the amount of damping/dissipation than the switching current.…”