Nonadiabatic Dynamics of Strongly Driven Diffusive Josephson Junctions

Abstract

By measuring the Josephson emission of a diffusive Superconductor-Normal metal-Superconductor (SNS) junction at a finite temperature we reveal a non-trivial sensitivity of the supercurrent to microwave irradiation. We demonstrate that the harmonic content of the current-phase relation is modified due to the energy redistribution of quasiparticles in the normal wire induced by the electromagnetic field. The distortion originates from the phase-dependent out-of-equilibrium distribution function which is strongly affected by the ac-response of the spectral supercurrent. For phases close to $\pi$, transitions accross the Andreev gap are dynamically favored leading to a supercurrent reduction. This finding is supported by a comparison with the quasiclassical Green's function theory of superconductivity in diffusive SNS junctions under microwave irradiation.

5 pages