Persistent current in a superconductor/quantum-dot ring/superconductor system

By means of the non-equilibrium Green's function technique, the inter-dot and Josephson currents in a superconductor/quantum-dot ring/superconductor (S/QDR/S) system are theoretically investigated. We found that a persistent current can coexist with the Josephson current in this hybrid QDR system when the inter-dot currents are all flowing in the clockwise (or anticlockwise) direction. The magnitude and direction of the persistent current can be controlled experimentally by the adjustment of some structure parameters, such as the quantum dot (QD) levels, the phase difference of the two external superconducting leads and the magnetic flux phase factor. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.