Anomalous current-voltage characteristics due to macroscopic resonant tunneling in a small Josephson junction

Current-voltage characteristics of a small Josephson junction are studied, taking into account quantized energy levels in the Josephson potential. In the energy regions where the Josephson coupling energy is greater than the charging energy at zero temperature, it is predicted that voltage spikes in a usual zero-voltage state branch will appear due to resonant phase slips by macroscopic quantum tunneling. These spikes are very different from those expected by the Bloch oscillation mechanism based on the band motion of the macroscopic variable