Annular Josephson junctions as superconductive nuclear particle detectors

Abstract

A new geometrical configuration for superconductive tunnel junctions as high energy resolution particle detectors is presented. The proposed configuration is based on annular junctions, in which fluxons are trapped in the central hole during the superconducting transition. Such a configuration overcomes some important drawbacks of the traditional geometries. The suppression of the Josephson critical current by a magnetic field that does not need to be sustained during the whole detection time and the absence of Fiske steps, which compromise the stability of the bias point, are automatically reached with the new configuration.