Non-equilibrium experiments in LTS Josephson double tunnel devices [Nb/Al/AlO/sub x//Nb]

Author

Ammendola, G. ; Pepe, G.P. ; Peluso, G.P. ; Peluso, G. ; Barone, A. ; Parlato, L. ; Esposito, E. ; Monticone, E. ; Rajteri, M.

Author_Institution

Dipt. di Sci. Fisiche, Naples Univ., Italy

Volume

9

Issue

2

fYear

1999

fDate

6/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

3974

Lastpage

3977

Abstract

Superconducting Tunnel Junctions (STJ) are promising devices as a next generation of nuclear and optical detectors. Non-equilibrium experiments can provide useful information on the behaviour of a perturbed superconductor. Among possible nonequilibrium sources, we used quasi-particle injection in three-terminal double tunnel junction devices and a laser pumping source. We investigated the effect of perturbed conditions on sub-harmonic gap structures, which are present in I-V characteristics of high quality Nb-based STJs. Experimental results concerning the change of the energy gap measured at V=2/spl Delta//2e show features which can not be completely explained in terms of simple heating effects.

Keywords

Josephson effect; aluminium; aluminium compounds; niobium; quasiparticles; superconducting junction devices; type II superconductors; I-V characteristics; LTS Josephson double tunnel devices; Nb-Al-AlO-Nb; heating effects; laser pumping source; nonequilibrium experiments; nuclear detectors; optical detectors; perturbed superconductor; quasi-particle injection; sub-harmonic gap structures; superconducting tunnel junctions; Electrodes; Energy measurement; Josephson junctions; Laser excitation; Niobium; Optical detectors; Pump lasers; Sputter etching; Temperature; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/77.783898

Filename

783898