Negative differential resistance in Josephson junctions coupled to a cavity

Regions with negative differential resistance can arise in the IV curve of Josephson junctions and this phenomenon plays an essential role for applications, in particular for THz radiation emission. For the measurement of high frequency radiation from Josephson junctions, a cavity – either internal or external – is often used.

A cavity may also induce a negative differential resistance region at the lower side of the resonance frequency. We investigate the dynamics of Josephson junctions with a negative differential resistance in the quasi particle tunnel current, i.e. in the McCumber curve. We find that very complicated and unexpected interactions take place.

This may be useful for the interpretation of experimental measurements of THz radiation from intrinsic Josephson junctions.