We demonstrate that in sufficiently long diffusive superconducting-normal-superconducting ($SNS$) junctions dc Josephson current is exponentially suppressed by electron-electron interactions down to zero temperature. This suppression is caused by the effect of { \it Cooper pair dephasing} which occurs in the normal metal and defines a new fundamental length scale $L_\varphi$ in the problem. Provided the temperature length exceeds $L_\varphi$ this dephasing length can be conveniently extracted from equilibrium measurements of the Josephson current.
Categories: cond-mat.mes-hall