Study of Fluxon Dynamics in a Coupled Long

Josephson Junctions

A proposal for M.Sc. Thesis

By
Bishnu P. Dhakal
2014

Under the Supervision of

Dr. Bal Ram Ghimire
Associate Professor
Central Department of Physics
Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur-Kathmandu, Nepal
 20th August, 2014

To,

The Head of Department,

Central Department of Physics

TU, Kirtipur.

Subject: Request for the Approval of the Proposal for the Dissertation

Dear Sir,

I beg to state that, I want to do M.Sc thesis, entitled “Study of Fluxon

Dynamics in a Coupled Long Josephson Junctions” under the supervision of Associate
Professor Dr. Bal Ram Ghimire. I am writing this request letter for the approval for the
proposal for the dissertation.

I am looking forward to hearing your positive response.

Best Regards

………..…………………..

Bishnu P. Dhakal

Class Roll No: 78

Mobile No: 9845050110

Email: bishnu.pdhakalsc@gmail.com
 Recommendation
20th August, 2014

It is to certify that Mr. Bishnu P. Dhakal, student of Central Department of Physics,

Tribhuvan University to continue the research entitled "Study of Fluxon Dynamics in a
Coupled Long Josephson Junctions" under my guidance.

……………………………………………
Supervisor
Dr. Bal Ram Ghimire
Associate Professor
Central Department of Physics
Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur-Kathmandu, Nepal
 CONTENTS

TOPIC 1
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. OBJECTIVE OF THESIS 2
3. PRELIMINARY BASIC KNOWLEDGE 2
3.1 SECOND QUANTIZATION 2
3.2 MICROSCOPIC BCS THEORY 3
3.3 LONG JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS AND FLUXON DYNAMICS 5
4. METHODOLOGY 6
5. CONCLUSION 7
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 7
7. TIME SCHEDULE 7
8. REFERENCES 8
Topic
STUDY OF FLUXON DYNAMICS IN A COUPLED LONG
JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS

1. Introduction
The remarkable property of element was discovered nearly 103 years ago in 1911
when H. Kamerling Onnes cooled mercury below 4.2K, appellation superconductivity,
and its dc resistivity drop to zero. One of the most fundamental properties of
superconductor was discovered later in 1933, that the magnetic flux is expelled from the
interior of the sample below its critical temperature is known today as the Meissner
effect named one of the pioneers W. Meissner and R. Ochsenfeld. In 1935, the brothers
F. and H. London proposed the two electrodynamics equation to govern the microscopic
electric and magnetic field. Pippard introduced the coherence length while proposing a
nonlocal generalization of the London equation [1].

V. Ginzburg and L. Landau in 1950, proposed phenomenological theory of

superconductivity. The theory introduced a complex pseudo-wavefunction ψ as an order
parameter within Landau's general theory of second-order phase transition. This ψ
describes the superconducting electrons, and the local density of superconducting
electrons [1]. The next step in the evolution of superconductor was the establishment of
the existence of energy gap Δ, of the order kTc, between the ground state and quasi-
particle excitation of the system, by Daunt and Mendelssohn. In 1957, Bardeen, Cooper
and Schrieffer [2] propounded a pairing theory of superconductivity, which was named
as BCS theory. Josephson [3], in 1962, predicted that Cooper pairs [4] should be able to
tunnel between two superconductors even at zero voltage difference giving a super-
current density [1].

Superconductivity is of special interest for the technologies of 21st century due to its
versatile utilization in the fields of energy, transport, nanotechnology,
information/communication and more. Superconductivity offers powerful new
opportunities for restoring the reliability of the power grid and increasing its capacity and
efficiency [5]. Superconductors are capable of carrying current without loss, making the
parts of the grid they replace dramatically more efficient. Superconducting wires carry
up to five times the current carried by copper wires that have the same cross section,
thereby providing ample capacity for future expansion while requiring no increase in the
number of overhead access lines or underground conduits [6]. Superconducting
generators with improved performance are deployable among others in off-shore wind
turbines or for ship propulsion. Superconducting induction heater can be used for power
saving metal processing. Superconducting magnet holding a very hot plasma making
1
possible the fusion reaction in International Thermonuclear Reactor (ITER). It can be
used to make the levitating train operating at speeds exceeding 500 km/h. They can also
be used in quantum computing, medical diagnostics tomography and magneto-
encephalography with highest resolution. During the process of Josephson tunneling for
a certain type of high Tc superconductor, a frequency in the range of THz, is possible to
emit due to the fluxon-fluxon interaction. This high frequency electromagnetic emission
can be used as the carrier frequency for the communication technology [5].

2. Objective of Thesis
Theoretical study of Fluxon Dynamics in a coupled Long Josephson Junction in
multi gap superconductor is the main objective of this thesis. Calculation and
Interpretation of the microscopic BCS Hamiltonian to obtain Lagrangian density of LJJ
in two gap superconductor as well as study and interpretation of special nonlinear system
explained with partial differential equation. This work may help to understand N-system
model of LJJ such a system often used as a model for high temperature superconductor.

3. Preliminary Basic Knowledge

3.1 Second Quantization
All the operators of physical systems are based on the position operator and
momentum operator ̂ in the formulation of a single particle quantum mechanics, the
natural representation for the quantum mechanics, the coordinate representation, is
defined in terms of eigenfunctions of the position operator. But for the many particle
system we need to introduce creation and annihilation operators in the occupation
number representation (Second Quantization). The eigenstates of the annihilation
operators are coherent states. A natural representation for the quantum mechanics of
many-particle systems, the holomorphic representation, is defined in terms of these
coherent states [7]. Mainly, due to two reasons, physicists all use second quantization
formalism to understand many-body theory. The first is that it enables us to deal with
systems containing a variable number of particles. And the second reason for the
occupation number formalism has to do with the symmetry properties of Fermi and Bose
system [8].
The destruction operator a in an n-particle occupation state | 〉 converts into (n-1)-
particle state, whereas annihilation operator in an n-particle occupation state | 〉
converts into (n+1)-particle state according to [9]
| 〉 = √ | − 1〉 (3.1)
| 〉 = √ + 1| + 1〉 (3.2)

2
Time independent abstract state vector | … … . ∞ 〉, [10] where notation means n1
particles in the state 1, n2 particles in the state 2, etc. The completeness and orthonormal
conditions respectively are
 | n1n2 .....n n1n2 ......n |  1 (3.3)
n1n 2 .........n
′ ′ ′
……. ∞ …… ∞ = ′ ′ ……. ′
∞ ∞
(3.4)
is occupation number.
The commutation and anticommutation rules for Boson and Fermi system respectively
are as
, ′ = ′ ; , ′ = , ′ =0;
(3.5)
, ′ = ′ ; , ′ = , ′ = 0;
where, [A, B] = AB – BA, and {A, B} = AB + BA.
For many particle system the total energy operator (Hamiltonian) can be written as
1
H  T ( x j )  2  V  xi , x k  (3.6)
j 1 i  k 1
where T is the kinetic energy and V is the potential energy of interaction between the
particles. Coordinates of the jth particle is denoted by xj including all the required
information of particle, such as spatial coordinate and any spin component if possess that
particle.
In the creation and destruction operators the Hamiltonian is given by the expression
 1
H   ai i | T | j a j   a j a j ij | V | kl a k al (3.6a)
ij
2 ijkl

Thus in second quantization is an operator in the abstract occupation-number space

because of dependence on the creation and destruction operators.

3.2 Microscopic BCS Theory

In superconducting state, some finite fractions of the total number of electrons in

the system condensed into a condensate state which can be described by a wave function
with phase coherence. Resistance of the piece of superconductor is disappeared in that
condensate state. Exchange of phonon between electrons leads to an attraction of
electron for paired [11] (electron-phonon interaction causes an instability of the ordinary
Fermi-sea ground state of the electron gas with respect to the formation of bound pairs
electrons occupying state), the paired of electron are the superelectron that cause to
phenomena of superconductivity below the certain temperature range called Cooper pair.
Remarkably, Cooper paired is the bound state of two electron with opposite momentum

3
and spin undergone Bose Einstein condensation i.e. no Pauli Exclusion. The excited state
above the condensate is some finite energy above the condensate level. That's why there
is an energy gap (the energy required to break a Co Cooper pair).. The gap is created by
interaction between electrons that formed Cooper
ooper pairs and so to break a cooper pairs.
pairs
The size of the Cooper pair is called coherence length. BCS theory [2] mainly predicted
that, the relationship between the size of the superconducting energy gap and the
transition temperature,, are verified experimentally. This theory does not differentiate
between electrons and holes, and consequently cannot predict which materials will
become superconducting at low temperatures.

In case of Long Josephson Junction (LJJ) with one gap superconductor, tto
calculate the energy of the system, it is useful to introduce Hamiltonian of the system
starting with microscopic BCS theory and obtain Lagrangian density of the phase. The
combination of kinetic energy associated with the energy density of the electric field and
the potential energy associated with the energy density of the magnetic field and the
Josephson coupling
pling gives the Lagrangian. The Hamiltonian which determines the total
energy of a LJJ is given by H  H sG  H p , where H sG is the Hamiltonian of an
unperturbed sine Gordon [12] equation , and H p is the contribution to the total energy
due to the perturbation term

A typical LJJ with two gap superconductor looks like as shown in figure 1. The
mean-field
field Hamiltonian for LJJ with two gap superconductor is given as [13]

H   H TB ,l  H T (3.7)
l

Here, the Hamiltonian H TB ,l accounts for the two-gap

gap (two band) superconductivity in the
l th superconducting layer (S layer) and given by
i i†
HTB ,l   E C ,l Ci ,l  H lpair (3.8)
i s ,d

Figure 1
1: A LJJ with multi gap superconductor.

4
Consider the Hamiltonian in the absence of electromagnetic fields. Here, Ei is the energy
of electrons in the i-band (i=s,d) about the Fermi energy. The term H lpair in equation (3.8)
is the Hamiltonian associated to the pairing interaction between electron in the lth S layer
and can be written as


H lpair  Vss Cs ,†l Cs ,†l Cs ,l Cs ,l  Vdd Cd,†l Cd,†l Cd,l Cd,l  Vsd Cs ,†l Cs ,†l Cd,l Cd,l  h.c.  (3.9)

where Ci †,l  Ci ,l  denotes creation(annihilation) operator with spin  in the i-band and Vij
denotes the strength of the pairing interaction between electrons in the i- and j-bands.

The Hamiltonian H T equation (3.7) describes the electron tunneling between the
two adjacent S layers that are separated by the insulator layer (I layer) and can be written
as

HT   T C
i j,
ij
i†
,l Ci ,l  h.c. (3.10)

where Tij denotes the tunneling matrix element for an electron from j- to i-band [13].

3.3 Long Josephson Junctions and Fluxon Dynamics

The development of current density in a superconductor insulator superconductor,
even in non biasing circuit, was predicted by Josephson [3] in 1962. This developed
current density is the proportional to the sine of phase difference in Ginzburg-Landau
wave function in the two electrodes [1], and relate as
= (∆ ) (3.11)
where, Jc is critical current density.
He further predicted that if a voltage difference V were maintained across the junction,
the phase difference Δϕ would evolve according to
( )
= (3.12)
ℏ
In many cases, we consider this phase difference and current density is uniform
over the junction called lumped junction. But, if this phase difference and current density
is vary over the junction called extended Josephson junction [14]. The behavior of such
junction in a magnetic field is a subject matter of study, here. Consider, the negligible
magnetic field produced by the currents through the junction as compare to the applied
magnetic field and called short junction. The energy stored in a junction additionally
clears about the new characteristic length. Thus, this short junction is a junction whose
length and width are small about that characteristic length. If the width and length of the
junction is longer than characteristic length is called Long Josephson Junction (LJJ),
however, the self-field is important in this case. As a consequence, there is current

5
screening by a self induced magnetic field generated by supercurrents in the junction.
Thus there is decaying of magnetic field and as well as currents away from the centre of
the vertex on a length scale of the characteristic length, hence this length is called the
Josephson penetration depth λJ. Thus, λJ gives the confinement of d.c. Josephson current
at the edge of the junction. Here, we need not be confused with London penetration
depth [1], the distance penetrated by externally applied magnetic field (the confinement
of magnetic field on the surface layer) in a bulk superconducting specimen. The typical
values of the London penetration depths λL, is of the order of hundreds of angstroms
whereas λJ is of the order of hundreds of microns.
If, ring shaped superconductor is placed in a magnetic field and it cooled down
below the critical temperature, ring becomes a superconducting as a result it expels the
magnetic lines of force called Meissner effect. Some parts of magnetic flux trapped
inside the ring which is quantized and relates as
 hc 
 n  n  , n = 0, 1, 2, 3, …. (3.13)
 e* 
where e* = 2e, charge of cooper pairs.
This unit of flux is called fluxoid or fluxon [15, 1].
The fluxoid quantum has the value
Φ0 = hc/2e = 2.07×10-7 gauss cm2
= 2.07×10-7 Wb (webers).
The study of equation of motion of fluxon is term fluxon dynamics [16].

4. Methodology
First of all by using Lagrangian density function obtained from microscopic BCS
Hamiltonian of the system we will calculate a system of perturbed sine-Gordon equation
for LJJ with two gap superconductor in second quantized formalism. We will discretize
the equations using finite difference techniques and obtain the system of two finite
difference equations. The boundary conditions for the system depend on the bias current
density and the applied magnetic field. Then the equations will be analyzed using the
numerical computation.

6
5. Conclusion
Study of fluxon dynamics in a coupled LJJ will open the door to study about the
multi band structure, which is more curious because of very special nonlinear system.
This nonlinearity is due to perturbed sine Gordon equation. And another curiosity is the
applications in fast technology such as quantum computing. This study may helpful to
investigate room temperature superconductor. More general, addition of these types of
system is to make several junctions piled on top of each other giving rise to a system of
N-coupled partial differential equations. Such a system is often used as a model for high
temperature superconductors.

6. Acknowledgement
I am grateful to Dr. Bal Ram Ghimire for providing me this research topic concern
about curious phenomena of substances, superconductivity; providing valuable
suggestions and ideas on the given subject matter. I am also thankful to Prof. Dr.
Binil Aryal, Head, Central Department of Physics, Tribhuvan University, for his
constant encouragement and support to become a good future researcher. All my
friends wherever will have been essential to my sanity and well-being, I am happy
to thanks all them. Actually, I don't know about serendipity, I hope, I will learn
from our leader scientists.

7. Time Schedule
The estimated time schedule for this thesis research work is tabulated as follows:
Month 2nd Months 3rd Months 4th Months 5th Months 6th Months
Works
Literature Review
Calculation and
Simulation
Result Analysis
Thesis Writing
and
documentation

7
8. References

[1] M. Tinkham, Introduction to superconductivity, McGraw-Hill Inc., (1996).

[2] J. Bardeen, L.N. Cooper, and J.R. Schrieffer, Phys. Rev. 108, 1175, (1957).

[3] B. D. Josephson, Phy. Rev. 1, 251, (1962).

[4] L. N. Cooper, Phys. Rev. 104, 1189, (1956).

[5] (Editors) Prof. Dr. V. Moshchalkov, Prof. Dr. R. Wordenweber,and Prof. Dr. W. Lang, Nanoscience and
Engineering in superconductivity, Springer, (2010).

[6] "Basic Research Needs for Superconductivity," http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/reports/files/SC_rpt.pdf., (2006).

[7] J. W. Negela and H. Orland, Quantum many particle systems, Westview Press, pp. 1, (1998).

[8] R. D. Mattuck, A guide to Feynman diagrams in the many-body problem, Dover Publication, pp. 123, (1992).

[9] S. Raimes, Many-electron theory, North-Holland Pub. Co., London, pp. 22, (1972).

[10] A.L. Fetter, J.D. Walecka, Quantum Theory Of Many-Particle Systems, McGraw-Hill Inc., (1971).

[11] J. M. Ziman, Principle of the theory of solids, Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed. (1972).

[12] D. W. McLaughlin and A. C. Scott, Phys. Rev. A 18, 1652 , (1978).

[13] J. H. Kim, B. R. Ghimire, and H. Y. Tsai, Phys. Rev. B 85, 134511, (2012).

[14] T. Orlando and K. A. Delin, Foundations of Applied Superconductivity, Ch. 12, Addison-Wesley Publication
Ltd., USA, (1991).

[15] C. Kittel, Introduction to solid state physics, Ch 12, Wiley India Pvt. Ltd., 7th ed..

[16] A. Barone and G. Paterno, Physics and applications of the Josephson effect, Wiley, (1982).