Josephson vortex

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In superconductivity, a Josephson vortex (after Brian Josephson from Cambridge University) is a vortex of supercurrent in a long Josephson junction (LJJ). The supercurrents circulate around the vortex center which is situated inside the Josephson barrier. In contrast to Abrikosov vortices in type-II superconductors, a Josephson vortex has no normal core.

Usually the Josephson vortex's supercurrents create a magnetic field with the total flux equal to \Phi _{0}—a single flux quantum. Such a vortex is therefore called a (Josephson) fluxon. It has been shown that under certain conditions a propagating Josephson vortex can initiate another Josephson vortex. This effect is called flux cloning (or fluxon cloning). Although a second vortex appears, this does not violate the conservation of the single flux quantum.

Recently it was demonstrated by Hilgenkamp et al. that Josephson vortices in the so-called 0-π LJJ can also carry half of the flux quantum, and are called semifluxons.

See also

References

  • H. Hilgenkamp, Ariando, H.-J. H. Smilde, D. H. A. Blank, G. Rijnders, H. Rogalla, J. R. Kirtley and C. C. Tsuei, (2003). "Ordering and manipulation of the magnetic moments in large-scale superconducting π-loop arrays". Nature (London) 422 (6927): 50–3. Bibcode:2003Natur.422...50H. doi:10.1038/nature01442. PMID 12621428. 
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