Suppression of the superconducting energy gap in intrinsic Josephson junctions of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ single crystals

We have observed back-bending structures at high bias current in the current–voltage curves of intrinsic Josephson junctions. These structures may be caused by nonequilibrium quasiparticle injection and/or Joule heating. The energy gap suppression varies considerably with temperature. Different levels of the suppression are observed when the same level of current passes through top electrodes of different sizes. Another effect which is seen and discussed is a super-current 're-entrance' of a single intrinsic Josephson junction with high bias current.

[1]  L. You,et al.  Controlling the Intrinsic Josephson Junction Number in a Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ Mesa , 2004, cond-mat/0406623.

[2]  L. You,et al.  Intrinsic Josephson junction arrays containing only a few junctions , 2004 .

[3]  L. You,et al.  Intrinsic Josephson junctions fabricated in a well-controlled way , 2003 .

[4]  T. Claeson,et al.  Reply to the "Comment on 'Intrinsic tunneling spectra of Bi_2(Sr_{2-x}La_x)CuO_6' ": Auxiliary information , 2003, cond-mat/0309132.

[5]  M. Suzuki,et al.  Extended-range short-pulse interlayer tunneling spectroscopy for Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ intrinsic Josephson junctions , 2003 .

[6]  M. Kitamura,et al.  Quasiparticle tunneling current-voltage characteristics of intrinsic Josephson junctions inBi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ , 2002 .

[7]  R. Kleiner,et al.  Charge-imbalance effects in intrinsic Josephson systems , 2002, cond-mat/0207634.

[8]  N. Yeh,et al.  Spin-polarized quasiparticle transport in cuprate superconductors , 2002, cond-mat/0206254.

[9]  C. Gough,et al.  System for fast time-resolved measurements of c-axis quasiparticle conductivity in intrinsic Josephson junctions of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ , 2002, cond-mat/0203543.

[10]  A. Irie,et al.  Pair and quasiparticle tunneling characteristics of small-sized intrinsic Josephson junctions in Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy , 2002 .

[11]  H. B. Wang,et al.  Terahertz responses of intrinsic Josephson junctions in high T(c) superconductors. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[12]  A. Yurgens,et al.  Intrinsic Josephson junctions: recent developments , 2000 .

[13]  M. Blamire,et al.  Intrinsic Josephson effects in submicrometre Bi2212 mesas fabricated by using focused ion beam etching , 1999 .

[14]  Yong-Joo Doh,et al.  Progressive evolution of tunneling characteristics of in situ fabricated intrinsic Josephson junctions in Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 + δ single crystals , 1999, cond-mat/9907251.

[15]  K. Tanabe,et al.  Tunneling characteristics for thin stacks of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 intrinsic Josephson junctions above and below Tc , 1997 .

[16]  H. Adachi,et al.  Investigation of I-V characteristics of intrinsic Josephson junctions in Bi-2223 thin films , 1997 .

[17]  K. Hirata,et al.  Intrinsic Josephson junctions under microwave irradiation , 1997 .

[18]  B. J. Feenstra,et al.  Nonequilibrium Superconductivity and Quasiparticle Dynamics Studied by Photoinduced Activation of mm-Wave Absorption , 1997, cond-mat/9709005.

[19]  T. Claeson,et al.  In situ controlled fabrication of stacks of high-Tc intrinsic Josephson junctions , 1997 .

[20]  Fischer,et al.  Vacuum tunneling spectroscopy and asymmetric density of states of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+ delta. , 1995, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[21]  Liu,et al.  Intrinsic features of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+ delta tunneling spectra: Scaling and symmetry of the energy gap. , 1994, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[22]  S. Kishida,et al.  Observation of Josephson Junctionlike Behavior in Single-Crystal (Bi, Pb)2Sr2CaCu2Oy , 1992 .

[23]  P. Couturier.  Japan , 1988, The Lancet.

[24]  T. Claeson,et al.  Non-Equilibrium Superconductivity in Aluminium Tunnel Junctions by Self-Injection and Millimeter Wave Radiation , 1985 .

[25]  D. Langenberg,et al.  Gap suppression by self-injection of quasiparticles in tin--tin-oxide--tin tunnel junctions , 1978 .

[26]  R. Dynes,et al.  Observation of a new superconducting state at high quasiparticle injection , 1977 .

[27]  W. Parker,et al.  Photoexcitation of Quasiparticles in Nonequilibrium Superconductors , 1972 .

[28]  D. Scalapino,et al.  SUPERCONDUCTING STATE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL DYNAMIC PAIR BREAKING. , 1972 .

[29]  John B Ketterson,et al.  The Physics of Superconductors , 2003 .

[30]  Alexey V. Ustinov,et al.  The Physics of Superconductors , 1997 .