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<p>The missing first Shapiro step in microwave-irradiated Josephson junctions has been widely interpreted as a hallmark of Majorana bound states. However, conventional mechanisms like junction underdamping or Joule heating can produce similar signatures. Here, we demonstrate that the intrinsic non-linear current-voltage characteristic of low-to-moderate transparency junctions can also suppress the first step, accompanied by distinctive zigzag boundaries between the zeroth and first step at intermediate driving frequencies. Microwave measurements on Al/WTe<sub>2</sub> junctions and numerical simulations of a non-linear resistively and capacitively shunted junction model reveal the first-step collapse induced by switching jumps of current, together with zigzag features absent in scenarios solely driven by finite <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\beta\)</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mi>β</mi> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation> or Joule heating. This zigzag signature, therefore, provides a crucial diagnostic tool, emphasizing the necessity of comprehensive analysis of microwave spectra before attributing the absence of the first Shapiro step to Majorana physics.</p>

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Intrinsic non-linearity of Josephson junctions as an alternative origin of the missing first Shapiro step

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月13日

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  • Lei Xu,
  • Shuhang Mai,
  • Manzhang Xu,
  • Xue Yang,
  • Lihong Hu,
  • Xinyi Zheng,
  • Sicheng Zhou,
  • Siyuan Zhou,
  • Bingbing Tong,
  • Xiaohui Song,
  • Jie Shen,
  • Zhaozheng Lyu,
  • Ziwei Dou,
  • Xiunian Jing,
  • Fanming Qu,
  • Peiling Li,
  • Guangtong Liu,
  • Li Lu

摘要

The missing first Shapiro step in microwave-irradiated Josephson junctions has been widely interpreted as a hallmark of Majorana bound states. However, conventional mechanisms like junction underdamping or Joule heating can produce similar signatures. Here, we demonstrate that the intrinsic non-linear current-voltage characteristic of low-to-moderate transparency junctions can also suppress the first step, accompanied by distinctive zigzag boundaries between the zeroth and first step at intermediate driving frequencies. Microwave measurements on Al/WTe2 junctions and numerical simulations of a non-linear resistively and capacitively shunted junction model reveal the first-step collapse induced by switching jumps of current, together with zigzag features absent in scenarios solely driven by finite \(\beta\) β or Joule heating. This zigzag signature, therefore, provides a crucial diagnostic tool, emphasizing the necessity of comprehensive analysis of microwave spectra before attributing the absence of the first Shapiro step to Majorana physics.