Quantum phase transition in small-size one- and two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays: Analysis of experiments within the interacting plasmons picture

Samuel Feldman; Andrey Rogachev

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.111.134506

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Quantum phase transition in small-size one- and two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays: Analysis of experiments within the interacting plasmons picture

Samuel Feldman, Andrey Rogachev

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.111.134506 · Physical Review B

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Abstract

Theoretically, Josephson junction (JJ) arrays can exhibit either a superconducting or insulating state, separated by a quantum phase transition (QPT). In this work, we analyze published data in three one-dimensional arrays and two two-dimensional arrays using a recently developed phenomenological model of QPTs. The model is based on the insight that the scaled experimental data depend in a universal way on two characteristic length scales of the system: the microscopic length scale L0 from which the renormalization group flow starts, and the dephasing length Lφ(T) as given by the distance traveled by system-specific elementary excitations over the Planckian time. Our analysis reveals that the data for all five arrays (both 1D and 2D) can be quantitatively and self-consistently explained within the framework of interacting superconducting plasmons. In this picture, Lφ=vpℏ/kBT and L0≈Λ, where vp is the speed of the plasmons and Λ is the Coulomb screening length of the Cooper pairs. We also discuss similarities and differences with recent microwave studies of extremely long JJ chains, as well as with the pair-breaking QPT observed in superconducting nanowires and films.