Anomalous phase shift in a Josephson junction via an antiferromagnetic interlayer

Abstract

The anomalous ground-state phase shift in superconductor/antiferromagnet/superconductor Josephson junctions in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling is predicted and numerically investigated. It is found to be a consequence of the uncompensated magnetic moment at the superconductor/antiferromagnet interfaces. The anomalous phase shift exhibits a strong dependence on the value of the spin-orbit coupling and the sublattice magnetization with the simultaneous existence of stable and metastable branches. It depends strongly on the orientation of the Néel vector with respect to the superconductor/antiferromagnet interfaces via the dependence on the orientation of the interface uncompensated magnetic moment. This effect opens a way to control the Néel vector by supercurrent in Josephson systems.