Josephson effect and tunneling spectroscopy in Nb/Al2O3/Al/MgB2 thin films junctions

Abstract

We report the demonstration of dc and ac Josephson effects as well as tunneling spectroscopy measurements on Nb/Al2O3/Al/MgB2 thin films heterostructures. Data on dc Josephson effect suggest the presence of two characteristic critical currents possibly accounted for the presence of two gaps in the MgB2 film. Tunneling spectroscopy measurements confirm this two-gap scenario and are explained with the presence of tunneling from both dirty limit and clean limit regions, reflecting two different order parameter amplitudes. The behavior of these two gaps is found in good agreement with the predictions of a recently proposed multigap theory.