A Josephson junction is a quantum mechanical device which is made of two superconducting electrodes separated by a barrier (thin insulating tunnel barrier, normal metal, semiconductor, ferromagnet, etc.). A Josephson junction is a Josephson junction in which the Josephson phase φ equals in the ground state, i.e. when no external current or magnetic field is applied.
Background
The supercurrent Is through a Josephson junction (JJ) is generally given by Is = Icsin(φ), where φ is the phase difference of the superconducting wave functions of the two electrodes, i.e. the Josephson phase. The critical current Ic is the maximum supercurrent that can exist through the Josephson junction. In experiment, one usually causes some current through the Josephson junction and the junction reacts by changing the Josephson phase. From the above formula it is clear that the phase φ = arcsin(I/Ic), where I is the applied (super)current.
Since the phase is 2-periodic, i.e. φ and φ + 2n are physically equivalent, without losing generality, the discussion below refers to the interval 0 ≤ φ < 2.
When no current (I = 0) exists through the Josephson junction, e.g. when the junction is disconnected, the junction is in the ground state and the Josephson phase across it is zero (φ = 0). The phase can also be φ = , also resulting in no current through the junction. It turns out that the state with φ = is unstable and corresponds to the Josephson energy maximum, while the state φ = 0 corresponds to the Josephson energy minimum and is a ground state.
In certain cases, one may obtain a Josephson junction where the critical current is negative (Ic < 0). In this case, the first Josephson relation becomes
The ground state of such a Josephson junction is and corresponds to the Josephson energy minimum, while the conventional state φ = 0 is unstable and corresponds to the Josephson energy maximum. Such a Josephson junction with in the ground state is called a Josephson junction.
Josephson junctions have quite unusual properties. For example, if one connects (shorts) the superconducting electrodes with the inductance L (e.g. superconducting wire), one may expect the spontaneous supercurrent circulating in the loop, passing through the junction and through inductance clockwise or counterclockwise. This supercurrent is spontaneous and belongs to the ground state of the system. The direction of its circulation is chosen at random. This supercurrent will of course induce a magnetic field which can be detected experimentally. The magnetic flux passing through the loop will have the value from 0 to a half of magnetic flux quanta, i.e. from 0 to Φ0/2, depending on the value of inductance L.
Technologies and physical principles
Ferromagnetic Josephson junctions. Consider a Josephson junction with a ferromagnetic Josephson barrier, i.e. the multilayers Superconductor-Ferromagnet-Superconductor (SFS) or Superconductor-Insulator-Ferromagnet-Superconductor (SIFS). In such structures the superconducting order parameter inside the F-layer oscillates in the direction perpendicular to the junction plane. As a result, for certain thicknesses of the F-layer and temperatures, the order parameter may become +1 at one superconducting electrode and −1 at the other superconducting electrode. In this situation one gets a Josephson junction. Note that inside the F-layer the competition of different solutions takes place and the one with the lower energy wins out. Various ferromagnetic junctions have been fabricated: SFS junctions with weak ferromagnetic interlayers; SFS junctions with strong ferromagnetic interlayers, such as Co, Ni, PdFe and NiFe SIFS junctions; and S-Fi-S junctions.