It will be shown that a pronounced interfacial pair breaking can be identified in Josephson tunnel junctions provided the first j_{ 1c} and the second j_{ 2c} harmonics of the supercurrent, as well as the depairing current in the bulk j_{ dp}, are known. Namely, within the Ginzburg-Landau theory a strong interfacial pair breaking results in the relation j_{ 2c}j_{ dp}>>j_{ 1c}^2, while in standard junctions, with negligibly small pair breaking, the relation of opposite character takes place.
Categories: cond-mat.supr-con