Magnetic states of a rf superconducting quantum interference device containing a double-barrier Josephson junction

The magnetic properties of a rf superconducting quantum interference device containing one overdamped double-barrier junction are studied. The effective nonsinusoidal expression for the current-phase relation with an additional half harmonic term is used for the double-barrier junction. Devices with inhomogeneous double-barrier junctions show a characteristic feature: for fixed and not too high superconducting loop inductance values, transition from irreversible to reversible magnetic behavior can be induced by increasing the difference in the Josephson coupling of the two junctions. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3478743]