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Dynamics of semifluxons in Nb long Josephson 0-pi junctions

E. Goldobin·A. Sterck·T. Gaber·D. Koelle·R. Kleiner
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Abstract

We propose, implement and test experimentally long Josephson 0-pi junctions fabricated using conventional Nb-AlOx-Nb technology. We show that using a pair of current injectors, one can create an arbitrary discontinuity of the Josephson phase and in particular a pi-discontinuity, just like in d-wave/s-wave or in d-wave/d-wave junctions, and study fractional Josephson vortices which spontaneously appear. Moreover, using such junctions, we can investigate the \emph{dynamics} of the fractional vortices -- a domain which is not yet available for natural 0-pi-junctions due to their inherently high damping. We observe half-integer zero-field steps which appear on the current-voltage characteristics due to hopping of semifluxons.

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E. Goldobin, A. Sterck, T. Gaber, D. Koelle, R. Kleiner. 2003-11-26. Dynamics of semifluxons in Nb long Josephson 0-pi junctions. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.92.057005

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