We report on the occurrence of multiple hopping and retrapping of a Brownian particle in a tilted washboard potential. The escape dynamic has been studied experimentally by measuring the switching current distributions as a function of temperature in a moderately damped NbN/MgO/NbN Josephson junction. At low temperatures the second moment of the distribution increases in agreement with calculations based on Kramers thermal activation regime. After a turn-over temperature T * , the shape of the distributions starts changing and width decreases with temperature. We analyze the data through fit of the switching probability and Monte Carlo simulations and we find a good agreement with a model based on a multiple retrapping process.

The interfacial coupling of two materials with different ordered phases, such as a superconductor (S) and a ferromagnet (F), is driving new fundamental physics and innovative applications. For example, the creation of spin-filter Josephson junctions and the demonstration of triplet supercurrents have suggested the potential of a dissipationless version of spintronics based on unconventional superconductivity. Here we demonstrate evidence for active quantum applications of S-F-S junctions, through the observation of macroscopic quantum tunnelling in Josephson junctions with GdN ferromagnetic insulator barriers. We show a clear transition from thermal to quantum regime at a crossover temperature of about 100 mK at zero magnetic field in junctions, which present clear signatures of unconventional superconductivity. Following previous demonstration of passive S-F-S phase shifters in a phase qubit, our result paves the way to the active use of spin filter Josephson systems in quantum hybrid circuits.

Dissipation encodes the interaction of a quantum system with the environment and regulates the activation regimes of a Brownian particle. We have engineered grain boundary biepitaxial YBaCuO junctions to drive a direct transition from a quantum activated running state to a phase diffusion regime. The crossover to the quantum regime is tuned by the magnetic field and dissipation is described by a fully consistent set of junction parameters. To unravel phase dynamics in moderately damped systems is of general interest for advances in the comprehension of retrapping phenomena and in view of quantum hybrid technology.

YBaCuO nanowires were reproducibly fabricated down to widths of 50 nm. A Au/Ti cap layer on YBCO yielded high electrical performance up to temperatures above 80 K in single nanowires. Critical current density of tens of MA cm −2 at T = 4.2 K and of 10 MA cm −2 at 77 K were achieved that survive in high magnetic fields. Phase-slip processes were tuned by choosing the size of the nanochannels and the intensity of the applied external magnetic field. Data indicate that YBCO nanowires are a rather attractive system for the fabrication of efficient sensors, supporting the notion of futuristic THz devices.

We have identified anomalous behavior of the escape rate out of the zero-voltage state in Josephson junctions with a high critical current density J c . For this study we have employed YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x grain boundary junctions, which span a wide range of J c and have appropriate electrodynamical parameters. Such high J c junctions, when hysteretic, do not switch from the superconducting to the normal state following the expected stochastic Josephson distribution, despite having standard Josephson properties such as a Fraunhofer magnetic field pattern. The switching current distributions (SCDs) are consistent with nonequilibrium dynamics taking place on a local rather than a global scale. This means that macroscopic quantum phenomena seem to be practically unattainable for high J c junctions. We argue that SCDs are an accurate means to measure nonequilibrium effects. This transition from global to local dynamics is of relevance for all kinds of weak links, including the emergent family of nanohybrid Josephson junctions. Therefore caution should be applied in the use of such junctions in, for instance, the search for Majorana fermions.

We report on the study of the phase dynamics of high critical temperature superconductor Josephson junctions. We realized YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) grain boundary (GB) biepitaxial junctions in the submicron scale, using low loss substrates, and analyzed their dissipation by comparing the transport measurements with Monte Carlo simulations. The behavior of the junctions can be fitted using a model based on two quality factors, which results in a frequency dependent damping. Moreover, our devices can be designed to have Josephson energy of the order of the Coulomb energy. In this unusual energy range, phase delocalization strongly influences the device's dynamics, promoting the transition to a quantum phase diffusion regime. We study the signatures of such a transition by combining the outcomes of Monte Carlo simulations with the analysis of the device's parameters, the critical current and the temperature behavior of the low voltage resistance R0.

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