Metastable π Junction between an s±-Wave and an s-Wave Superconductor

We examine a contact between a superconductor whose order parameter changes sign across the Brillioun zone, and an ordinary, uniform-sign superconductor. Within a Ginzburg-Landau-type model, we find that if the barrier between the two superconductors is not too high, the frustration of the Josephson coupling between different portions of the Fermi surface across the contact can lead to surprising consequences. These include time-reversal symmetry breaking at the interface and unusual energy-phase relations with multiple local minima. We propose this mechanism as a possible explanation for the half-integer flux quantum transitions in composite niobium-iron pnictide superconducting loops, which were discovered in recent experiments [C.-T. Chen et al., Nature Phys. 6, 260 (2010).].