Non-linear critical current thermal response of an asymmetric Josephson tunnel junction

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the critical current of a thermally-biased SIS Josephson junction formed by electrodes made by different BCS superconductors. The response of the device is analyzed as a function of the asymmetry parameter, $r=T_{c_1}/T_{c_2}$. We highlight the appearance of jumps in the critical current of an asymmetric junction, namely, when $r\ne 1$. In fact, in such case at temperatures at which the BCS superconducting gaps coincide, the critical current suddenly increases or decreases. In particular, we thoroughly discuss the counterintuitively behaviour of the critical current, which increases by enhancing the temperature of one lead, instead of monotonically reducing. In this case, we found that the largest jump of the critical current is obtained for moderate asymmetries, $r\simeq 3$. In view of these results, the discussed behavior can be speculatively proposed as a temperature-based threshold single-photon detector with photon-counting capabilities, which operates non-linearly in the non-dissipative channel.

12 pages, 9 figures

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• Phase-dependent heat and charge transport through superconductor-quantum dot hybrids
• A superconducting nonlinear thermoelectric heat engine
• Phase-tunable thermoelectricity in a Josephson junction
• Nonlocal thermoelectric engines in hybrid topological Josephson junctions
• Bipolar Thermoelectricity in Bilayer-Graphene--Superconductor Tunnel Junctions
• Heat-transfer fingerprint of Josephson breathers
• Stability of bubble-like fluxons in disk-shaped Josephson junctions in the presence of a coaxial dipole current
• Thermoelectric signatures of order-parameter symmetries in iron-based superconducting tunnel junctions
• Phase-dependent transport in thermally-driven superconducting single-electron transistors
• Axion field influence on Josephson junction quasipotential
• Bipolar thermoelectrical SQUIPT (BTSQUIPT)
• Josephson-based scheme for the detection of microwave photons
• Temperature-biased double-loop Josephson flux transducer