RESISTANCE OF SUPERCONDUCTOR-NORMAL-METAL-SUPERCONDUCTOR (SNS) JUNCTIONS

It is shown that the conductance of a superconductor-normal-metal-supe rconductor (SNS) junction can exhibit a significant dependence on the phase of the superconducting order parameter in the situation where th e size of the normal region of the junction is much larger than the no rmal-metal coherence length, so that the critical current of the junct ion is exponentially small. The period of the conductance oscillations as a function of the phase can be equal to pi or 2 pi, depending on t he parameters of the system. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.