Inhomogeneous Superconductivity in Comb-Shaped Josephson Junction Networks

Abstract

We show that some of the Josephson couplings of junctions arranged to form an inhomogeneous network undergo a non-perturbative renormalization provided that the network's connectivity is pertinently chosen. As a result, the zero-voltage Josephson critical currents $I_c$ turn out to be enhanced along directions selected by the network's topology. This renormalization effect is possible only on graphs whose adjacency matrix admits an hidden spectrum (i.e. a set of localized states disappearing in the thermodynamic limit). We provide a theoretical and experimental study of this effect by comparing the superconducting behavior of a comb-shaped Josephson junction network and a linear chain made with the same junctions: we show that the Josephson critical currents of the junctions located on the comb's backbone are bigger than the ones of the junctions located on the chain. Our theoretical analysis, based on a discrete version of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation, leads to results which are in good quantitative agreement with experimental results.