Phase Transition and Critical Dynamics in Diluted Josephson Junction Arrays

Abstract

Measurements of the $IV$ characteristics of site-diluted Josephson-junction arrays have revealed intriguing effects of percolative disorder on the phase transition and the vortex dynamics in a two-dimensional XY system. Different from other types of phase transitions, the Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) transition was eliminated with the introduction of percolative disorder far below the percolation threshold. Even after the KT order had been removed, the system remained superconducting at low temperatures by establishing a different type of order. Near the percolation threshold, evidence was found that, as a consequence of the underlying fractal structure, the critical dynamics of the phase degrees of freedom persisted down to zero temperature.