Low-magnetic-field operations of intrinsic Josephson junctions with a long c-axis periodicity by artificial critical-current modulations

Flux-flow cavity resonances in intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) with long c-axis periodicity by artificial critical-current (Jc) modulation are studied numerically and theoretically. For an n-1-n-1-n-1-n IJJ system with n-layer high-Jc and one-layer low-Jc alternately stacked, numerical simulation confirms fluxon penetration only in the low-Jc junctions under proper low magnetic fields. The simulation also shows pronounced cavity-resonance steps in the I-V curves of the low-Jc junctions, meaning that fluxon dynamics can be generated under much lower magnetic fields, compared to the fields for usual IJJs with homogeneous Jc. A theoretical method for describing the flux-flow cavity-resonance properties is presented. The general disperse k-ω relationship shows that, at low-k regions, the critical-current-modulated junction system can be regarded as simple homogeneous stacked junctions with a new effective thickness and a new inductive coupling strength. For general-k cases, the cavity-resonant voltage steps on the I-V curves at various magnetic fields can be well indexed by integers, which means excellent agreement between the theoretical analysis and the numerical simulations