Spontaneous vortex state and $\phi$-junction in a superconducting bijunction with a localized spin

Abstract

A Josephson bijunction made of three superconductors connected by a quantum dot is considered in the regime where the dot carries a magnetic moment. In the range of parameters where such a dot, if inserted in a two-terminal Josephson junction, creates a $\pi$-shift of the phase, the bijunction forming a triangular unit is frustrated. This frustration is studied both within a phenomenological and a microscopic model. Frustration stabilizes a phase vortex centered on the dot, with two degenerate states carrying opposite vorticities, independently of the direction of the magnetic moment. Embedding the bijunction in a superconducting loop allows to create a tunable "$\phi$"-junction whose equilibrium phase can take any value. For large enough inductance, it generates noninteger spontaneous flux. Multi-loop configurations are also studied.

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• Fractional positional jumps in stochastic systems with tilted periodic double-well potentials