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Regimes in the behavior of superconducting microbridges

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Abstract

We have investigated variable-thickness aluminum microbridges that are small with respect to coherence length and penetration depth. The critical current depends linearly on temperature and is proportional to the normal-state conductance, in agreement with theory. The voltage-carrying state shows an excess current of about 0.5I c over a large range of currents. Subharmonic energy gap structure is clearly present. The differential resistance observed corresponds with an effective length of about 2 µm, a value which is in agreement with three-dimensional diffusion for a diffusion length of 100 µm (this diffusion length is determined in experiments with long aluminum microstrips). An intrinsic upper frequency limit for the Josephson oscillation is not found. It is argued that the known relaxation times of the order parameter are not limiting. The results are in disagreement with the RSJπ model, introduced by Jensen and Lindelof. We also investigated tin microbridges and have found that at low temperatures, flux flow determines the voltage. The differences between the results on tin and aluminum microbridges seem to be due to the fact that in tin the bridge sizes are still too large with respect to coherence length and penetration depth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Physics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    T. M. Klapwijk, M. Sepers & J. E. Mooij

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  1. T. M. Klapwijk
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  2. M. Sepers
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  3. J. E. Mooij
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Klapwijk, T.M., Sepers, M. & Mooij, J.E. Regimes in the behavior of superconducting microbridges. J Low Temp Phys 27, 801–835 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00655709

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