2013/09/30 by D. G. Olivares, Diego González Olivares, L. Bretheau +6 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Andreev reflection #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Condensed matter physics #Coupling (piping) #Josephson effect #Materials science #Phonon #Photon #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quasiparticle #Relaxation (psychology) #Superconductivity #Trapping #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.89.104504
published as Phys. Rev. B 89, 104504 (2014) · 11 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review B
arxiv created 2014/02/12 · openalex publication_date 2014/03/04 · arxiv updated 2014/03/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present a theory describing the trapping of a quasiparticle in a prototypical Josephson junction, a single-channel superconducting weak link. We calculate the trapping and untrapping rates associated to absorption and emission of both photons and phonons. We show that the presence of an electromagnetic mode with frequency smaller than the gap gives rise to a rather abrupt transition between a fast-relaxation regime dominated by coupling to photons and a slow-relaxation regime dominated by coupling to phonons. This conclusion is illustrated by the analysis of a recent experiment [Zgirski, Bretheau, Le Masne, Pothier, Esteve, and Urbina, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 257003 (2011)] measuring the dynamics of quasiparticle trapping in a superconducting atomic contact coupled to a Josephson junction. With realistic parameters, the theory provides a semiquantitative description of the experimental results.