Quantum tunneling of semifluxons
Superconductivity
2007-05-23 v1
Abstract
We consider a system of two semifluxons of opposite polarity in a 0-pi-0 long Josephson junction, which classically can be in one of two degenerate states: up-down or down-up. When the distance between the 0-pi boundaries (semifluxon's centers) is a bit larger than the crossover distance , the system can switch from one state to the other due to thermal fluctuations or quantum tunneling. We map this problem to the dynamics of a single particle in a double well potential and estimate parameters for which quantum effects emerge. We also determine the classical-to-quantum crossover temperature as well as the tunneling rate (energy level splitting) between the states up-down and down-up.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0504507,
title = {Quantum tunneling of semifluxons},
author = {E. Goldobin and K. Vogel and O. Crasser and R. Walser and W. P. Schleich and D. Koelle and R. Kleiner},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0504507},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
submitted to PRB, comments/questions are welcome