Influence of coupling between junctions on breakpoint current in intrinsic Josephson junctions

We study theoretically the current-voltage characteristics of intrinsic Josephson junctions in high-Tc superconductors. An oscillation of the breakpoint current on the outermost branch as a function of coupling alpha and dissipation beta parameters is found. We explain this oscillation as a result of the creation of longitudinal plasma waves at the breakpoint with different wave numbers. We demonstrate the commensurability effect and predict a group behavior of the current-voltage characteristics for the stacks with a different number of junctions. A method to determine the wave number of longitudinal plasma waves from alpha and beta dependence of the breakpoint current is suggested. We model the alpha and beta dependence of the breakpoint current and obtain good agreement with the results of the simulation.