Spontaneous vortex state and ϕ-junction in a superconducting bijunction with a localized spin

Denis Feinberg; C. A. Balseiro

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.90.075432

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Spontaneous vortex state and ϕ-junction in a superconducting bijunction with a localized spin

Denis Feinberg, C. A. Balseiro

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.90.075432 · Physical Review B

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Abstract

A Josephson bijunction made of three superconductors connected by a quantum dot is considered in the regime where the dot carries a magnetic moment. In the range of parameters where such a dot, if inserted in a two-terminal Josephson junction, creates a π-shift of the phase, the bijunction forming a triangular unit is frustrated. This frustration is studied within both a phenomenological and a microscopic model. Frustration stabilizes a phase vortex centered on the dot, with two degenerate states carrying opposite vorticities, independently of the direction of the magnetic moment. Embedding the bijunction in a superconducting loop allows one to create a tunable “ϕ”-junction whose equilibrium phase can take any value. For large enough inductance, it generates noninteger spontaneous flux. Multiloop configurations are also studied.