Josephson tunnel junction controlled by quasiparticle injection

A Josephson tunnel junction transistor based on quasiparticle injection is proposed. Its operation relies on the manipulation of the electron distribution in one of the junction electrodes. This is accomplished by injecting quasiparticle current through the junction electrode by two additional tunnel-coupled superconductors. Both large supercurrent enhancement and fast quenching can be achieved with respect to equilibrium by varying quasiparticle injection for proper temperature regimes and suitable superconductor combinations. Combined with large power gain, this makes the device attractive for applications where reduced noise and low-power dissipation are required. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.