Macroscopic quantum effects in capacitively- and inductively-coupled intrinsic Josephson junctions

Abstract

A theory for macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) in intrinsic Josephson junction stacks is formulated. Both capacitive and inductive couplings between junctions are taken into account. We calculate the escape rate in the switching to the first resistive branch in the quantum regime. It is shown that the enhancement of the escape rate is caused mainly by the capacitive coupling between junctions in IJJ's with small in-plane area of ∼ 1μm2. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.