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Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Macroscopic Quantum Coherence Effects in Microwave Emission from High- T c Superconducting Films

Grzegorz Jung, Janusz Konopka

Published Sep 15, 1989• 19 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Macroscopic quantum coherence effects have been observed in X -band emission from current-biased high- T c films. Two groups of excess emission lines, current stable lines and voltage stable lines, were distinguished in the emission spectra by their different behaviour with changing temperature and magnetic field. The electromagnetic energy was found to be radiated by synchronized clusters composed of only a few intergranular Josephson junctions. Current stable lines are related to coupled two-junction quantum interferometers. Voltage stable lines are due to clusters composed of a few connected single junctions or to a large single junction with pronounced structural fluctuations.

DOI
10.1209/0295-5075/10/2/016

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Macroscopic quantum coherence effects have been observed in X -band emission from current-biased high- T c films. Two groups of excess emission lines, current stable lines and voltage stable lines, were distinguished in the emission spectra by their different behaviour with changing temperature and magnetic field. The electromagnetic energy was found to be radiated by synchronized clusters composed of only a few intergranular Josephson junctions. Current stable lines are related to coupled two-junction quantum interferometers. Voltage stable lines are due to clusters composed of a few connected single junctions or to a large single junction with pronounced structural fluctuations.
Spectral properties of rf radiation from intrinsic Josephson junctions in high Tc Y-Ba-Cu-O thin film have been measured in the frequency range up to 1.5 GHz. Narrow emission lines with the 3 dB bandwidth of the order of 20 MHz were detected indicating that Josephson clusters radiate coherently. Synchronization conditions are determined by dc current and external magnetic field bias. Frequency locking of radiation to external resonant circuit was also observed. Spectral line narrowing due to resonant lock was distinguished from the coherence-induced narrowing by different tuning properties of the emission line. Noncoherent Josephson radiation manifests itself as a broadband background noise increase. A pronounced 1/f-like tail sensitive to dc bias and magnetic field was observed in a low frequency part of the spectrum.
We investigated the emission of subterahertz frequency electromagnetic radiation from high-TC superconducting c-axis NdBa2Cu3O7−δ∕PrBa2Cu3O7−δ∕NdBa2Cu3O7−δ trilayer thin film tunneling junctions when external electric and magnetic fields are applied. The current-voltage characteristics under applied ab-plane magnetic fields H (up 8T) exhibit well defined steps, Vn, such that eVn≈hωp∕(2nπ), where the plasma frequency ωp≈0.4 THz and n=1,2,3,….. These steps may be interpreted using Josephson plasma dynamics. The applied voltage creates oscillating currents via the Josephson coupling energy EJ (EJ=hIJ∕4πe, where IJ is the Josephson current and h is Planck’s constant) and the charge energy EC (EC=e2∕2C, where C is the junction capacitance). Thus the Josephson plasma becomes excited by the tunneling current, with some of the energy being emitted as subterahertz frequency radiation. Our results provide a new insight into a solid-state quantum system with considerable potential for new solid-state terahertz emission sources.
We study microwave radiation emitted by a small voltage-biased Josephson junction connected to a superconducting transmission line. An input-output formalism for the radiation field is established, using a perturbation expansion in the junction's critical current. Using output field operators solved up to the second order, we estimate the spectral density and the second-order coherence of the emitted field. For typical transmission line impedances and at frequencies below the main emission peak at the Josephson frequency, radiation occurs predominantly due to two-photon emission. This emission is characterized by a high degree of photon bunching if detected symmetrically around half of the Josephson frequency. Strong phase fluctuations in the transmission line make related nonclassical phase-dependent amplitude correlations short lived, and there is no steady-state two-mode squeezing. However, the radiation is shown to violate the classical Cauchy-Schwarz inequality of intensity cross-correlations, demonstrating the nonclassicality of the photon pair production in this region.
We study microwave radiation emitted by a small voltage-biased Josephson junction connected to a superconducting transmission line. An input-output formalism for the radiation field is established, using a perturbation expansion in the junction's critical current. Using output field operators solved up to the second order, we estimate the spectral density and the second-order coherence of the emitted field. For typical transmission line impedances and at frequencies below the main emission peak at the Josephson frequency, radiation occurs predominantly due to two-photon emission. This emission is characterized by a high degree of photon bunching if detected symmetrically around half of the Josephson frequency. Strong phase fluctuations in the transmission line make related nonclassical phase-dependent amplitude correlations short lived, and there is no steady-state two-mode squeezing. However, the radiation is shown to violate the classical Cauchy-Schwarz inequality of intensity cross-correlations, demonstrating the nonclassicality of the photon pair production in this region.
de Broglie wave interferometers have been constructed, successfully utilizing extended superconducting links of tin to couple coherently the quantum phases of two Josephson junctions. The current transmitted by these devices was periodic in the enclosed flux (periodicity (.9 ± .3) h/2e) demonstrating unambiguously coherence of the superconducting order parameter over 1.33 meters. We may define a Josephson junction as one for which the quantum mechanical coupling energy is insufficient to overcome the disruptive effects of noise. Consequently, the relative phase of the coupled superconductors is not stabilized and the zero Josephson current fluctuates, (bandwidth ~ 2eVnoise/h) averaging to zero. Two such junctions have been coupled to an electromagnetic cavity formed by the superconducting arms of a quantum interferometer (junction separation 1. 33 meters). With an applied steady voltage such that the Josephson current excites a normal mode of the cavity, a coherent radiation field is built up. This coherent radiation feeds back to the junctions forcing time coherence on the phase precession, resulting in a dynamic stabilization of the junctions. Under these conditions a series of constant voltage has been observed in the I-V characteristic of one interferometer. The Josephson frequency associated with these steps is shown to be characteristic of the electromagnetic resonant modes of the cavity. Frequency modulation analysis, combined with a detailed analysis of the cavity-junction combination, predicts such maxima in the tunneling of pairs when a selection rule, (m + n) even, is obeyed. Here m/2 is the number of flux quanta (h/2e) linking the interferometer and n is the order of the cavity resonance excited. Experimental confirmation of the detailed predictions of the analysis is presented.
We measure current fluctuations of mesoscopic devices in the quantum regime, when the frequency is of the order of or higher than the applied voltage or temperature. Detection is designed to probe separately the absorption and emission contributions of current fluctuations, i.e. the positive and negative frequencies of the Fourier transformed nonsymmetrized noise correlator. It relies on measuring the quasiparticles photon assisted tunneling current across a superconductor-insulator-superconductor junction (the detector junction) caused by the excess current fluctuations generated by quasiparticles tunneling across a Josephson junction (the source junction). We demonstrate unambiguously that the negative and positive frequency parts of the nonsymmetrized noise correlator are separately detected and that the excess current fluctuations of a voltage biased Josephson junction present a strong asymmetry between emission and absorption.