Microwave-induced phase escape in a Josephson tunnel junction

Abstract

We perform both theoretical and experimental investigations on the phase escape of a current-biased Josephson tunnel junction under microwave irradiation. The switching current distributions exhibit abundant nonlinear behaviors depending on the power and frequency of the applied microwave. We present a model to describe the behavior of the primary peak in the switching current distribution, which is confirmed by our experimental results. The obtained features can be used to characterize the damping parameter of Josephson junctions.