Peculiar properties of the Josephson junction at the transition from 0 to Pi state

Abstract

It is demonstrated that in the diffusive superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor (S/F/S) junctions the current-phase relation is practically sinusoidal everywhere except in a narrow region near the 0-Pi transition. In this region the second harmonic dominates the scenario of the 0-Pi transition. We predict a first order transition for the S/F/S junctions with a homogeneous F barrier. However, in real junctions a small modulation of the thickness of the barrier may favor the continious 0-Pi transition and the realisation of the Josephson junction with an arbitrary ground state phase difference. The performed calculations of the second harmonic amplitude provide a natural explanation of the recent contradictory results on the second harmonic measurements.