Simultaneous quasiparticle and Josephson tunneling in BSCCO-2212 break junctions

Abstract

Tunneling measurements are reported for superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) break junctions on underdoped, optimally-doped, and overdoped single crystals of tSrsCaCiOs-).,! (Bi2212). The junction I -V characteristics exhibit welldefined quasiparticle current jumps at eV = 2A as well as hysteretic Josephson currents. The quasiparticle branch has been analyzed in the framework of dxa_y2 (d-wave) superconductivity and indicates that there is preferential tunneling along the lobe directions of the d-wave gap. For overdoped Bi-2212 with TC-62 K, the Josephson current is measured as a function of junction resistance, Rn, which varied by two orders of magnitude (1 kO to 100 kO). IcRn product is proportional to the 0.47 power of /c and displays a maximum of 7.0 mV. When the hole doping is decreased from overdoped (Tc=62 K) to the underdoped regime (Tc=70 K), the average IcRn product increases as does the quasiparticle gap. The maximum IcRn is ~ 40% of the A/e at each doping level, with a value as high as 25 mV in underdoped Bi-2212.