Analysis of the phonon spectrum emitted by superconducting Al-tunneling junctions at high quasiparticle injection rates

Abstract

The phonon spectrum emitted by superconducting Al-tunneling junctions is analyzed by experiments, in which two junctions of different energy gaps are used as phonon generator and detector. The energy gap of the Al-films is varied by the evaporation conditions. The experiments show clearly that the phonon spectrum and the quasiparticle distributions in the generator are strongly nonthermal and depend markedly on the primary tunneling injection. At high injection rates also significant consequences of gap reductions and instabilities are observed.