Influence of twin boundaries on Josephson junctions between high-temperature and conventional superconductors

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.53.2835· OSTI ID:278719

Sigrist, M; Kuboki, K; Lee, P A ^[1]; Millis, A J; Rice, T M ^[2]

---

1. Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
2. AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974 (United States)

We give a consistent explanation of the {ital c}-axis Josephson tunneling experiment by Sun and co-workers between YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 6+{ital x}} and Pb within the {ital d}-wave pairing scenario. Using a Ginzburg-Landau formulation, orthorhombic deformation and twinning of the crystal lattice are taken into account. In the presence of orthorhombic distortion, symmetry arguments allow a {ital c}-axis Josephson coupling between YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 6+{ital x}} and Pb. However, for a highly twinned YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 6+{ital x}} sample, the Josephson coupling is weakened due to destructive interference effects. On the other hand, we demonstrate that destructive effects due to twinning can be overcome, if twin boundaries support a state which locally breaks time reversal symmetry and leads to a channel which adds constructively to the total Josephson coupling. Properties of the Josephson junctions measured in experiment, such as the Fraunhofer pattern and the Fiske resonance, keep their standard form for such a junction. The existence of a twin boundary state with broken time reversal symmetry can directly be tested, for example, by observing vortices with fractional flux quanta on twin boundaries. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

• OSTI ID: 278719
• Journal Information: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter, Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 53; ISSN PRBMDO; ISSN 0163-1829
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
CRYSTAL LATTICES
D WAVES
DEFORMATION
HIGH-TC SUPERCONDUCTORS
JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS
LEAD
MAGNETIC FLUX
PAIRING INTERACTIONS
TWINNING
VORTICES