Low-voltage current noise in long quantum superconductor/insulator/normal-metal/insulator/superconductor junctions

The current noise in long superconductor/insulator/normal-metal/insulator/superconductor junctions at low temperatures is sensitive to the population of the subgap states, which is far from equilibrium even at low bias voltages. A nonequilibrium distribution is established due to an interplay between voltage-driven interlevel Landau-Zener transitions and intralevel inelastic relaxation. The Fano factor (the ratio of the zero-frequency noise to the dc current) is enhanced drastically, being proportional to the number of times which a particle flies along the Andreev trajectory before it escapes from the level due to inelastic scattering. For weak Landau-Zener transitions, the enhancement is even larger due to a smaller dc current.