Resonant activation through effective temperature oscillation in a Josephson tunnel junction

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2009 Mar;79(3 Pt 1):030104. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.79.030104. Epub 2009 Mar 23.

Abstract

We experimentally investigated the thermal escape from a metastable state in a Josephson tunnel junction subjected to an oscillating effective temperature. A minimum of the average escape time is observed at certain oscillation frequency. Our results confirm that the resonant activation can be caused not only by the oscillating barrier but also by the oscillating temperature. The linear dependence of the minimum average escape time on the resonant frequency suggests that the correlation between the oscillation and the escape process leads to the resonant escape.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.