2006/08/10 by M. Chauvin, P. Stein, P. Vom Stein +6 · 3 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Bound state #Condensed matter physics #Current (fluid) #Josephson effect #Microwave #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Phase (matter) #Photon #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Superconductivity #Supercurrent #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.97.067006
published as Physical Review Letters 97 (2006) 067006
openalex publication_date 2006/08/10 · arxiv created 2006/08/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We have measured the effect of microwave irradiation on the dc current-voltage characteristics of superconducting atomic contacts. The interaction of the external field with the ac supercurrents leads to replicas of the supercurrent peak, the well-known Shapiro resonances. The observation of supplementary fractional resonances for contacts containing highly transmitting conduction channels reveals their nonsinusoidal current-phase relation. The resonances sit on a background current which is itself deeply modified, as a result of photon-assisted multiple Andreev reflections. The results provide firm support for the full quantum theory of transport between two superconductors based on the concept of Andreev bound states.