THz emission from a stacked coherent flux-flow oscillator: non-local radiative boundary conditions and the role of geometrical resonances

Abstract

I derive simple non-local dynamic boundary conditions, suitable for modelling of radiation emission from stacked Josephson junctions, and employ them for analysis of flux-flow emission from intrinsic Josephson junctions in high-$T_c$ superconductors. It is shown that due to the lack of Lorenz contraction of fluxons in stacked junctions, high quality geometrical resonances are prerequisite for high power emission from the stack. This leads to a dual role of the radiative impedance: on the one hand, small impedance increases the efficiency of emission from the stack, on the other hand, enhanced radiative losses reduce the quality factor of geometrical resonances, which may decrease the total emission power. Therefore, the optimal conditions for the coherent flux-flow oscillator are achieved when radiative losses are comparable to resistive losses inside the stack.