We present an experimental study of discrete breathers in an underdamped Josephson-junction array. Breathers exist under a range of dc current biases and temperatures, and are detected by measuring dc voltages. We find the maximum allowable bias current for the breather is proportional to the array depinning current while the minimum current seems to be related to a junction retrapping mechanism. We have observed that this latter instability leads to the formation of multi-site breather states in the array. We have also studied the domain of existence of the breather at different values of the array parameters by varying the temperature.Discrete breathers are a new type of excitation in nonlinear lattices. They are characterized by an exponential localization of the energy. This localization does not occur in linear systems and it is different from Anderson localization, which is due to the presence of impurities. Thus, discrete breathers are also known as intrinsic localized modes.Breathers have been proven to be generic solutions for the dynamics of nonlinear coupled oscillator systems [1,2] by the use of the novel mathematical technique of the anti-integrable limit [3]. They have been extensively studied [4][5][6][7][8] and have been proposed to theoretically exist in diverse systems such as in spin wave modes of antiferromagnets [9], DNA denaturation [10], and the dynamics of Josephson-junction networks [11,12]. Also, they have been shown to be important in the dynamics of mechanical engineering systems [13,14]. Although a number of experiments have been proposed, discrete breathers have yet to be experimentally generated and measured.In this Letter, we present, to our knowledge, the first experimental study of discrete breathers in a spatially extended system. We have designed and fabricated an underdamped Josephson-junction ladder which allows for the existence of breathers when biased by dc external currents. We have developed a method for exciting breathers and explored their existence domain and instability mechanisms with respects to the junction parameters and the applied current.A Josephson junction consists of two superconducting leads separated by a thin insulating barrier. Due to the Josephson effect, it behaves as a solid-state nonlinear oscillator and is usually modeled by the same dynamical equations that govern the motion of a driven pendulum [15,16]: i =φ + Γφ + sin ϕ. The response of the junction to a current is measured by the voltage of the junction which is given by v = (Φ 0 /2π)dϕ/dt. By coupling junctions it is possible to construct solid-state physical realizations of different models such as the Frenkel- Moreover, since the parameters, such as Γ(T ), vary with temperature, a range of parameter space can be studied easily with each sample.The inset of Fig. 1 shows a schematic of the anisotropic ladder array. The junctions are fabricated using a NbAl 2 O x -Nb tri-layer technology with a critical current density of 1000 A/cm 2 . The current is injected and extracted through bias resisto...
We have measured the depinning of trapped kinks in a ratchet potential using a fabricated circular array of Josephson junctions. Our ratchet system consists of a parallel array of junctions with alternating cell inductances and junctions areas. We have compared this ratchet array with other circular arrays. We find experimentally and numerically that the depinning current depends on the direction of the applied current in our ratchet ring. We also find other properties of the depinning current versus applied field, such as a long period and a lack of reflection symmetry, which we can explain analytically.Comment: to be published in PR
We present a study of nonlinear localized excitations called discrete breathers in a superconducting array. These localized solutions were recently observed in Josephsonjunction ladder arrays by two different experimental groups [1][2][3]. We review the experiments made by Trías et al.[1] We report the detection of different single-site and multi-site breather states and study the dynamics when changing the array bias current. By changing the temperature we can control the value of the damping (the Stewart-McCumber parameter) in the array, thus allowing an experimental study at different array parameters. We propose a simple DC circuit model to understand most of the features of the detected states. We have also compared this model and the experiments with simulations of the dynamics of the array. We show that the study of the resonances in the ladder and the use of harmonic balance techniques allow for understanding of most of the numerical results. We have computed existence diagrams of breather solutions in our arrays, found resonant localized solutions and described the localized states in terms of vortex and antivortex motion.
We propose a method to excite and detect a rotor localized mode ͑rotobreather͒ in a Josephson-junction array biased by dc currents. In our numerical studies of the dynamics we have used experimentally realizable parameters and included self-inductances. We have uncovered two families of rotobreathers. Both types are stable under thermal fluctuations and exist for a broad range of array parameters and sizes including arrays as small as a single plaquette. We suggest a single Josephson-junction plaquette as an ideal system to experimentally investigate these solutions.
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