Spin-Asymmetric Josephson Effect

M. O. J. Heikkinen; F. Massel; J. Kajala; M. J. Leskinen; G. S. Paraoanu; P. Törmä

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.225301

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Spin-Asymmetric Josephson Effect

M. O. J. Heikkinen, F. Massel, J. Kajala, M. J. Leskinen, G. S. Paraoanu, P. Törmä

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.225301 · Physical Review Letters

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Abstract

We propose that with ultracold Fermi gases one can realize a spin-asymmetric Josephson effect in which the two spin components of a Cooper pair are driven asymmetrically—corresponding to driving a Josephson junction of two superconductors with different voltages V↑ and V↓ for spin up and down electrons, respectively. We predict that the spin up and down components oscillate at the same frequency but with different amplitudes. Furthermore our results reveal that the standard interpretation of the Josephson supercurrent in terms of coherent bosonic pair tunneling is insufficient. We provide an intuitive interpretation of the Josephson supercurrent as interference in Rabi oscillations of pairs and single particles, the latter causing the asymmetry.