Giant proximity effect in a phase-fluctuating superconductor.
When a tunneling barrier between two superconductors is formed by a normal material that would be a superconductor in the absence of phase fluctuations, the resulting Josephson effect can undergo an enormous enhancement. We establish this novel proximity effect by a general argument as well as a numerical simulation and argue that it may underlie recent experimental observations of the giant proximity effect between two cuprate superconductors separated by a barrier made of the same material rendered normal by severe underdoping.
Marchand
Dominic
D
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z1.
Covaci
Lucian
L
Berciu
Mona
M
Franz
Marcel
M