Polarization-controlled supercurrent in ferroelectric Josephson junctions

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Josephson junctions are essential devices in superconducting electronics and quantum computing hardware. Here we predict electrical control of the supercurrent in composite superconductor-insulator-ferroelectric-insulator-superconductor (S-I-FE-I-S) Josephson junctions. Inversion symmetry broken by unequal dielectric barrier thicknesses and/or potentials converts ferroelectric polarization reversal into a substantial change of the critical current. Using a WKB approximation, we model the nonvolatile switching of the critical current with on-off efficiency that is tunable by thicknesses and potential barriers of the insulating layers, as well as the thickness and dielectric constant of the ferroelectric layer. We also derive a compact linear expression for the critical current valid for small polarizations. Our results identify ferroelectric Josephson junctions as electrically programmable superconducting current switches for cryogenic memory and logic applications.