We report measurements of switching-current distribution (SWCD) from a phase-diffusion branch to a quasiparticle-tunneling branch as a function of temperature in a cuprate-based intrinsic Josephson junction. Contrary to the thermal-activation model, the width of the SWCD increases with decreasing temperature, down to 1.5 K. Based on the multiple-retrapping model, we quantitatively demonstrate that the quality factor of the junction in the phase-diffusion regime determines the observed temperature dependence of the SWCD.
@article{arxiv.0807.3798,
title = {Multiple-Retrapping Process in High-$T_c$ Intrinsic Josephson Junctions},
author = {Myung-Ho Bae and M. Sahu and Hu-Jong Lee and A. Bezryadin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0807.3798},
year = {2008}
}