Kondo Effect and Josephson Current through a Quantum Dot between Two Superconductors

Mahn-Soo Choi, Minchul Lee, Kicheon Kang, W. Belzig

Published 2003-12-11, updated 2004-03-08Version 2

We investigate the supercurrent through a quantum dot for the whole range of couplings using the numerical renormalization group method. We find that the Josephson current switches abruptly from a $\pi$- to a 0-phase as the coupling increases. At intermediate couplings the total spin in the ground state depends on the phase difference between the two superconductors. Our numerical results can explain the crossover in the conductance observed experimentally by Buitelaar \textit{et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{89}, 256 801 (2002)].