Kink State in a Stack of Intrinsic Josephson Junctions in Layered High-T c Superconductors and Terahertz Radiation

A new family of dynamic states are found in a stack of inductively coupled intrinsic Josephson junctions in the absence of an external magnetic field. In this state, (2m l +1)π phase kinks with integers m l ’s stack along the c axis and lock neighboring junctions together. A significant part of the dc power is pumped into plasma oscillations via kinks at the cavity resonances. The plasma oscillation is uniform along the c axis with the frequency satisfying the ac Josephson relation. Thus this state supports strong terahertz radiation and seems to be compatible with the recent experimental observations.