Absence of "fractional ac Josephson effect" in superconducting junctions

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kalenkov, Mikhail S., Zaikin, Andrei D.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866910657738178560
author Kalenkov, Mikhail S.
Zaikin, Andrei D.
author_facet Kalenkov, Mikhail S.
Zaikin, Andrei D.
contents We develop a microscopic theory of ac Josephson effect in superconducting junctions described by an arbitrary scattering matrix that may include magnetic effects. In the limit of constant in time bias voltage $V$ applied to the junction we derive a formally exact current-phase relation (CPR) that is manifestly $2π$-periodic in the Josephson phase $φ$ in full accordance with general principles. This our result unambiguously argues against the idea of the so-called "fractional ac Josephson effect" admitting $4π$-periodic in $φ$ CPR. We also demonstrate that at any non-zero $V$ quantum dynamics of Andreev bound states becomes non-Hermitian which signals their instability, thus making any 'quasi-equilibrium' description of ac Josephson effect unreliable. We specifically address the limit of highly transparent junctions with magnetic scattering where -- along with super- and excess current terms -- at small $V$ we also recover a non-trivial $2π$-periodic dissipative current with the amplitude $\propto |V|^{1/3}$
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_07344
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Absence of "fractional ac Josephson effect" in superconducting junctions
Kalenkov, Mikhail S.
Zaikin, Andrei D.
Superconductivity
Strongly Correlated Electrons
We develop a microscopic theory of ac Josephson effect in superconducting junctions described by an arbitrary scattering matrix that may include magnetic effects. In the limit of constant in time bias voltage $V$ applied to the junction we derive a formally exact current-phase relation (CPR) that is manifestly $2π$-periodic in the Josephson phase $φ$ in full accordance with general principles. This our result unambiguously argues against the idea of the so-called "fractional ac Josephson effect" admitting $4π$-periodic in $φ$ CPR. We also demonstrate that at any non-zero $V$ quantum dynamics of Andreev bound states becomes non-Hermitian which signals their instability, thus making any 'quasi-equilibrium' description of ac Josephson effect unreliable. We specifically address the limit of highly transparent junctions with magnetic scattering where -- along with super- and excess current terms -- at small $V$ we also recover a non-trivial $2π$-periodic dissipative current with the amplitude $\propto |V|^{1/3}$
title Absence of "fractional ac Josephson effect" in superconducting junctions
topic Superconductivity
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.07344