Method for forming Josephson break junctions
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsIgnacio M. Perez, William R. Scott
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Abstract
A Josephson break junction device suitable for highly sensitive electronic detecting systems. A superconductor film such as YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 is deposited on a substrate such as a simple-crystal MgO. The film is fractured across a narrow strip by at least one indentation in the substrate juxtaposed from the strip to form a break junction. A transducer is affixed to the substrate for applying a bending movement to the substrate to regulate the distance across the gap formed at the fracture to produce a Josephson turned junction effect. Alternatively, or in addition to the transducer, a bridge of a novel metal is applied across the gap to produce a weak-link junction.
Claims4
A method for producing a Josephson junction in a film oxide superconductor, comprising the steps in sequence of:
- epitaxially depositing a film strip of an oxide superconductor on a planar surface of a substrate, said superconductor and said substrate having substantially matching crystallographic lattice structures;
- and
- indenting the surface of the substrate between the ends of the strip and in a cleavage plane of the substrate with sufficient penetration for propagating a complete fracture across the strip in the cleavage plane thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.