Josephson quantum mechanics at odd parity
Manuel Houzet (Université Grenoble Alpes)
Julia S. Meyer (Université Grenoble Alpes)
Yuli Nazarov (TU Delft - QN/Nazarov Group)
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Abstract
A Josephson junction may be in a stable odd-parity state when a single quasiparticle is trapped in an Andreev bound state. Embedding such junction in an electromagnetic environment gives rise to a special quantum mechanics of the superconducting phase that we investigate theoretically. Our analysis covers several representative cases, from the lifting of the supercurrent quench due to quasiparticle poisoning for a low ohmic impedance of the environment, to a Schmid transition in a current-biased junction that for odd parity occurs at four times bigger critical impedance. For intermediate impedances, the supercurrent in the odd state is higher than in the even one.