DC Josephson effect between two Yu-Shiba-Rusinov bound states

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates the DC Josephson effect between two Yu-Shiba-Rusinov bound states, revealing multiple 0-$\\pi$ transitions, spin-dependent critical currents, and triplet superconductivity, with implications for superconducting spintronics.

Contribution

It introduces a mean-field Anderson model analysis of YSR states in a Josephson junction, predicting novel phenomena like multiple 0-$\pi$ transitions and triplet superconductivity.

Findings

Multiple 0-$\pi$ transitions can be induced by energy or temperature changes.

Critical current depends on impurity spin orientation, maximized at parallel or antiparallel alignment.

Triplet superconductivity emerges at strong impurity coupling, affecting current-phase relations.

Abstract

Motivated by recent experiments [Nat. Phys. $\textbf{16}$, 1227 (2020)], we present here a theoretical study of the DC Josephson effect in a system comprising two magnetic impurities coupled to their respective superconducting electrodes and which exhibit Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states. We make use of a mean-field Anderson model with broken spin symmetry to compute the supercurrent in this system for an arbitrary range of parameters (coupling between the impurities, orientation of the impurity spins, etc.). We predict a variety of physical phenomena such as (i) the occurrence of multiple $0-\pi$ transitions in the regime of weak coupling that can be induced by changing the energy of the YSR states or the temperature; (ii) the critical current strongly depends on the relative orientation of the impurity spins and it is maximized when the spins are either parallel or antiparallel, depending on the ground state of the impurities; and (iii) upon increasing the coupling between impurities, triplet superconductivity is generated in the system and it is manifested in a highly nonsinusoidal current-phase relation. In principle, these predictions can be tested experimentally with the existing realization of this system and the main lessons of this work are of great relevance for the field of superconducting spintronics.