Non-dissipative Josephson current through nanoscale superconducting constrictions is carried by spectroscopically sharp energy states, so-called Andreev bound states. Although theoretically predicted almost 40 years ago, no direct spectroscopic evidence of these Andreev bound states exists to date. We propose a novel type of spectroscopy based on embedding a superconducting constriction, formed by a single-level molecule junction, in a microwave QED cavity environment. In the electron-dressed cavity spectrum we find a polariton excitation at twice the Andreev bound state energy, and a superconducting-phase dependent ac Stark shift of the cavity frequency. Dispersive measurement of this frequency shift can be used for Andreev bound state spectroscopy.
Understanding the subgap behavior of Normal-Insulator-Superconductor (NIS) tunnel junctions is important in order to be able to accurately model the thermal properties of the junctions. Hekking and Nazarov developed a theory in which NIS subgap current in thin-film structures can be modeled by multiple Andreev reflections. In their theory, the current due to Andreev reflections depends on the junction area and the junction resistance area product. We have measured the current due to Andreev reflections in NIS tunnel junctions for various junction sizes and junction resistance area products and…
Andreev reflection in ferromagnet-superconductor junctions is derived in a regime in which Zeeman splitting dominates the response of the superconductor to an applied magnetic field. Spin-up and spin-down Andreev reflections are shown to be resolved as voltage is increased. In the metallic limit, the transition from Andreev to tunnel conductivity in the spin-up channels has a non trivial behavior when spin polarization is increased. The conductance is asymmetric in a voltage reversal.
We have studied hybrid superconducting micro-coolers made of a double Superconductor-Insulator-Normal metal tunnel junction. Under subgap conditions, the Andreev current is found to dominate the single-particle tunnel current. We show that the Andreev current introduces additional dissipation in the normal metal equivalent to Joule heating. By analyzing quantitatively the heat balance in the system, we provide a full description of the evolution of the electronic temperature with the voltage. The dissipation induced by the Andreev current is found to dominate the quasiparticle tunneling-based …
We discuss how to control dc Josephson current by influencing the structure and nonequilibrium population of Andreev levels via external electrostatic gates, external current injection and electromagnetic radiation. In particular we will consider the "giant" Josephson current in "long" SIS tunnel junctions and the regular and anomalous nonequilibrium Josephson currents in three terminal SNS junctions. We will briefly discuss applications to the Josephson field effect transistor (JOFET) and to the newly invented Josephson interference transistor (JOINT).
We report on transport measurements on Nb/Al/Gd/Al/Nb junctions.Bulk Gadolinium is a weakly polarized ferromagnet (5-7%), and is present in the junction in granular form (superparamagnet). We show that Andreev reflection is strongly enhanced by a weak polarization, obtained by applying an external magnetic field. A new model is proposed that accounts for this effect. The transport is described in terms of ``hot'' carriers that experience Zeeman splitting due to the spin polarized background. The Landauer formula is $G=(4e^2)/h A(h_b)$, $h_b$ being the exchange field at the grain boundary, and …
Electrical properties of Josephson junctions Nb/FeSi/Nb with superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F)interfaces are presented. Due to Andreev reflection the nearly exact quadruple enhancement of the tunnel junction differential conductance compared with that of the normal state was achieved. The transparency of the S/F interfaces in our junctions was estimated to be close to unity. This almost ideal value is obtained due to the use of a very smooth amorphous magnetic FeSi alloy for the barrier preparation. The real structure of the Nb/FeSi/Nb tunnel junction is described as a S/F/I/F/S junction. Also …
We investigate manipulation with Andreev bound states in Josephson quantum point contacts with magnetic scattering. Rabi oscillations in the two-level Andreev subsystems are excited by resonant driving the direction of magnetic moment of the scatterer, and by modulating the superconducting phase difference across the contact. The Andreev level dynamics is manifested by temporal oscillation of the Josephson current, accompanied, in the case of magnetic manipulation, also by oscillation of the Andreev states spin polarization. The interlevel transitions obey a selection rule that forbids manipul…
We construct a theory for low-energy quantum transport in normal$\mid$superconductor junctions involving the recently discovered iron-based high-$T_c$ superconductors. We properly take into account both Andreev bound surface states and the complex Fermi surface topology in our approach, and investigate the signatures of the possible order parameter symmetries for the FeAs-lattice. Our results could be helpful in determining the symmetry of the superconducting state in the iron-pnicitide superconductors.
Transport properties of a superconductor-semiconductor-superconductor (S-Sm-S) junction with superlattice structure are investigated. Differential resistance as a function of voltage shows oscillatory behavior under the irradiation of radio-frequency (RF) waves with the specific frequency of 1.77 GHz regardless of the superconducting materials and the junction lengths. Experimental data are quantitatively explained in terms of the coupling of superconducting quasiparticles with long-wavelength acoustic phonons indirectly excited by the RF waves. We propose that the strong coupling causes the f…
In highly resistive superconducting tunnel junctions, excess subgap current is usually observed and is often attributed to microscopic "pinholes" in the tunnel barrier. We have studied the subgap current in superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) and superconductor-insulator-normal-metal (SIN) junctions. In Al/AlOx/Al junctions, we observed a decrease of 2 orders of magnitude in the current upon the transition from the SIS to the SIN regime, where it then matched theory. In Al/AlOx/Cu junctions, we also observed generic features of coherent diffusive Andreev transport in a junction with …
We have measured the tunnelling current in Nb/Nb$_x$O$_y$/Ni planar tunnel junctions at different temperatures. The junctions are in the intermediate transparency regime. We have extracted the current polarization of the metal/ferromagnet junction without applying a magnetic field. We have used a simple theoretical model, that provides consistent fitting parameters for the whole range of temperatures analyzed. We have also been able to gain insight into the microscopic structure of the oxide barriers of our junctions.%
We have measured and modeled, using three different approaches, the tunneling current in a Nb/NbxOy/Ni planar tunnel junction. The experimental data could be fitted and the correct current polarization could be extracted using a simple quasiclassical model, even in the absence of an applied magnetic field. We also discuss the microscopic structure of the barrier.
We present a theory of the current-voltage characteristics in diffusive superconductor-normal-metal-superconductor junctions. By solving the time-dependent Usadel equations we are able to describe the phase-coherent transport for arbitrary length of the normal wire. We show how the interplay between proximity effect and multiple Andreev reflections gives rise to a rich subgap structure in the conductance and how it is revealed in the non-equilibrium distribution function.
We theoretically study the electronic transport through a ferromagnet-Ising superconductor junction. A tight-binding Hamiltonian describing the Ising superconductor is presented. Then by combing the non-equilibrium Green's function method, the expressions of Andreev reflection coefficient and conductance are obtained. A strong magnetoanisotropic spin-triplet Andreev reflection is shown, and the magnetoanisotropic period is $π$ instead of $2π$ as in the conventional magnetoanisotropic system. We demonstrate a significant increase of the spin-triplet Andreev reflection for the single-band Ising …
We study Andreev reflection and Andreev levels $\varepsilon$ in Zeeman-split superconductor/Rashba wire/Zeeman-split superconductor junctions by solving the Bogoliubov de-Gennes equation. We theoretically demonstrate that the Andreev levels $\varepsilon$ can be controlled by tuning either the strength of Rashba spin-orbit interaction or the relative direction of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction and the Zeeman field. In particular, it is found that the magnitude of the band splitting is tunable by the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction and the rength of the wire, which can be interp…
We study systematically the scattering processes and the conductance spectra in nodal-line semimetalsuperconductor junctions using the extended Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory. The coexistence of peculiar quadruple reflections are found, which are the specular normal reflection, the retro-normal reflection, the specular Andreev reflection and the retro-Andreev reflection. The incident angle dependence and the quasiparticle energy dependence of the double normal reflections and the double Andreev reflections are investigated under various values of parameters such as the interfacial barrier hei…
Ag/BSCCO and Fe/Ag/BSCCO planar tunnel junctions were constructed in order to study experimentally the effect of an exchange potential on the spin polarized current transported through Andreev bound states appearing at the interface with a superconductor with broken time reversal pairing symmetry. The zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) resulting from the Andreev bound states (ABS) is split into two symmetric peaks shifted at finite energies when the counterlectrode is normal. Four asymmetric peaks are observed when the ferromagnetic spin polarized charge reservoir is added, due to the combined …
Josephson junctions (JJs), where both time-reversal and inversion symmetry are broken, exhibit a phase shift $ϕ_0$ in their current-phase relation. This allows for an anomalous supercurrent to flow in the junction even in the absence of a phase bias between the superconductors. We show that a finite phase shift also manifests in the so-called Andreev interferometers - a device that consists of a mesoscopic conductor coupled to the $ϕ_0$-junction. Due to the proximity effect, the resistance of this conductor is phase-sensitive - it oscillates by varying the phase of the JJ. As a result, the qua…
We investigate the properties of subharmonic gap structure (SGS) in superconducting quantum contacts with normal-electron resonances. We find two distinct new features of the SGS in resonant junctions which distinguish them from non-resonant point contacts: (i) The odd-order structures on the current-voltage characteristics of resonant junctions are strongly enhanced and have pronounced peaks, while the even-order structures are suppressed, in the case of a normal electron resonance being close to the Fermi level. (ii) Tremendous current peaks develop at $eV=\pm 2E_0$ where $E_0$ indicates a d…
Andreev reflection (AR) in ferromagnet/superconductor junctions is an indispensable spectroscopic tool for measuring spin polarization. We study theoretically how the presence of a thin semiconducting interface in such junctions, inducing Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling, modifies AR processes. The interface gives rise to an effective momentum- and spin-dependent scattering potential, making the probability of AR strongly asymmetric with respect to the sign of the incident electrons' transverse momenta. This skew AR creates spatial charge carrier imbalances and transverse Hall curren…
The incoherent regime of Multiple Andreev Reflections (MAR) is studied in long diffusive SNS junctions at applied voltages larger than the Thouless energy. Incoherent MAR is treated as a transport problem in energy space by means of a circuit theory for an equivalent electrical network. The current through NS interfaces is explained in terms of diffusion flows of electrons and holes through tunnel and Andreev resistors. These resistors in diffusive junctions play roles analogous to the normal and Andreev reflection coefficients in OTBK theory for ballistic junctions. The theory is applied to t…
Sub-gap conductance at a large area junction with a rough interface of a ferromagnet and a high-T$_{C}$ superconductor is superimposed by multiple peaks which is not expected from an ideal point contact Andreev reflection process. We demonstrate this phenomenon by measuring resistance as a function of bias voltage of a Co/Y$_{1}$Ba$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-δ}$ junction with contact area 50 x 70 $μ$ $m^{2}$ at various temperatures. In order to analyze such Andreev reflection data, the interface is assumed to have random potentials which can create local electric fields. The Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk t…
We observe a zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) in the ab-plane quasiparticle tunneling spectra of thin film grain-boundary Josephson junctions made of the electron doped cuprate superconductor LaCeCuO. An applied magnetic field reduces the spectral weight around zero energy and shifts it non-linearly to higher energies consistent with a Doppler shift of the Andreev bound states (ABS) energy. For all magnetic fields the ZBCP appears simultaneously with the onset of superconductivity. These observations strongly suggest that the ZBCP results from the formation of ABS at the junction interfaces, …
We have made in-situ [103] and [110]YBCO/Pb junctions, which display an hysteretic behaviour with both a well-defined Quasi-Particule branch and a Josephson current. A zero energy conductance peak is observed in the tunneling conductance which is a signature of Andreev Bound States (ABS) at a surface of a d-wave superconductor. The observed splitting of this peak at low temperature may confirm the existence of a surface state which breaks time-reversal symmetry. However, up to now, we have not seen any evidence of a coupling between Josephson current and the zero-energy ABS, predicted by Y. Ta…
We made point-contact measurements with Au tips on La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} samples with 0.08 < x < 0.20 to investigate the relationship between superconducting gap and pseudogap. We obtained junctions whose conductance curves presented typical Andreev reflection features at all temperatures from 4.2 K up to T_c^A close to the bulk T_c. Their fit with the BTK-Tanaka-Kashiwaya model gives good results if a (s+d)-wave gap symmetry is used. The doping dependence of the low temperature dominant isotropic gap component Delta_{s} follows very well the T_{c} vs. x curve. These results support the separa…
Andreev reflection spectroscopy of ferromagnet/superconductor (FS) junctions is an important probe of spin polarization. We theoretically investigate spin-polarized transport in FS junctions in the presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus interfacial spin-orbit fields and show that Andreev reflection can be controlled by changing the magnetization orientation. We predict a giant in- and out-of-plane magnetoanisotropy of the junction conductance. If the ferromagnet is highly spin polarized---in the half-metal limit---the magnetoanisotropic Andreev reflection depends universally on the spin-orbit fiel…
We investigate the effects of Andreev bound states due to the unconventional pairing on the inverse proximity effect of ferromagnet/superconductor junctions. Utilizing quasiclassical Eilenberger theory, we obtain the magnetization penetrating into the superconductor. We show that in a wide parameter range the direction of the induced magnetization is determined by two factors: whether Andreev bound states are present at the junction interface and the sign of the spin-mixing angle. In particular, when Andreev bound states appear at the interface, the direction of the induced magnetization is op…
We investigate theoretically charge transport in hybrid multiterminal junctions with superconducting leads kept at different voltages. It is found that multiple Andreev reflections involving several superconducting leads give rise to rich subharmonic gap structures in the current-voltage characteristics. The structures are evidenced numerically in junctions in the incoherent regime.
We study properties of the zero energy Andreev bound state in a superconductor-normal metal-superconductor(SNS) junction consisting of two intrinsic degrees of freedom. The superconductors on either sides of the normal metal are assumed to have two sublattices with an $intra$-sublattice pairing with a phase of zero or $π$ between the two sublattices. In addition, we add a uniform $inter$-sublattice pairing and study its effect on the local density of states (LDOS). In particular, we find that as the inter-sublattice pairing is turned on, the zero bias peak (ZBP) is unstable (robust) when the p…
We discuss very low temperature experiments on superconducting micro-coolers made of a double Normal metal - Insulator - Superconductor junction. We investigate with a high resolution the differential conductance of the micro-cooler as well as of additional probe junctions. There is an explicit crossover between the single quasi-particle current and the phase-coherent Andreev current. We establish a thermal model by considering the thermal contribution due to the Andreev current. The related increase of the electron temperature is discussed, including the influence of several parameters like t…
We report temperature dependent Andreev reflection measurements of Co/ Y$_{1}$Ba$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-δ}$ (YBCO) heterostructure samples with junction areas of 1 $μ$m diameter. Modelling of the 5-70 K conductivity data according to a modified Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory yields a spin polarization in Co film amounting to 34% which is almost constant up to 70 K. The YBCO films have been grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire substrates. The Co films are deposited by thermal evaporation on YBCO. The film is characterized by powder X-ray diffraction measurements which shows YBCO is grown i…
The formation of bound states at surfaces of materials with an energy gap in the bulk electron spectrum is a well known physical phenomenon. At superconductor surfaces, quasiparticles with energies inside the superconducting gap $Δ$ may be trapped in bound states in quantum wells, formed by total reflection against the vacuum and total Andreev reflection against the superconductor. Since an electron reflects as a hole and sends a Cooper pair into the superconductor, the surface states give rise to resonant transport of quasiparticle and Cooper pair currents, and may be observed in tunneling sp…
We report the first observation of the intrinsic multiple Andreev reflections effect (IMARE) in S-n-S-...-S-arrays (S = superconductor, n = normal metal) formed by "break-junction" technique in GdO(F)FeAs superconductor (Tc = 48 - 53 K). We show that superconducting gap peculiarities at dI/dV-spectra sharpen dramatically in the arrays as compared with that in the single-contact spectra; this enables to improve significantly accuracy of the bulk superconducting parameters determination. Using IMARE, we determined the large and the small gap values Δ_L = 11 +- 1.1 meV and Δ_S = 2.6 +- 0.4 meV. T…
We studied the voltage and temperature dependency of the dynamic conductance of normal metal-MgB2 junctions obtained either with the point-contact technique (with Au and Pt tips) or by making Ag-paint spots on the surface of high-quality single-crystal-like MgB2 samples. The fit of the conductance curves with the generalized BTK model gives evidence of pure s-wave gap symmetry. The temperature dependency of the gap, measured in Ag-paint junctions (dirty limit), follows the standard BCS curve with 2Delta/kTc = 3.3. In out-of-plane, high-pressure point contacts we obtained almost ideal Andreev r…
We study Multiple Andreev Reflections in long diffusive superconductor(S)-normal metal(N)-superconductor junctions with low-transparency interfaces. Assuming strong thermalization in the weak link we calculate the current-voltage dependence $I(V)$. At intermediate temperatures, $E_\mathrm{Th}\ll T\llΔ$, the current is dominated by noncoherent multiple Andreev reflections and is obtained analytically. The results are generalized to a ferromagnetic junction. We find that the exchange field produces a non-trivial splitting of the subharmonic gap structure. This effect relies on thermalization and…
We show that Andreev reflection in a junction between ferromagnetic (F) and superconducting (S) graphene regions is fundamentally different from the common FS junctions. For a weakly doped F graphene with an exchange field $h$ larger than its Fermi energy $E_{\rm F}$, Andreev reflection of massless Dirac fermions is associated with a Klein tunneling through an exchange field p-n barrier between two spin-split conduction and valence subbands. We find that this Andreev-Klein process results in an enhancement of the subgap conductance of a graphene FS junction by $h$ up to the point at which the …
We propose the "Andreev molecule", an artificial quantum system composed of two closely spaced Josephson junctions. The coupling between Josephson junctions in an Andreev molecule occurs through the overlap and hybridization of the junction's "atomic" orbitals, Andreev Bound States. A striking consequence is that the supercurrent flowing through one junction depends on the superconducting phase difference across the other junction. Using the Bogolubiov-de-Gennes formalism, we derive the energy spectrum and non-local current-phase relation for arbitrary separation. We demonstrate the possibilit…
Andreev scattering and the Josephson current through a one-dimensional interacting electron liquid sandwiched between two superconductors are re-examined. We first present some apparently new results on the non-interacting case by studying an exactly solvable tight-binding model rather than the usual continuum model. We show that perfect Andreev scattering (i.e. zero normal scattering) at the Fermi energy can only be achieved by fine-tuning junction parameters. We also obtain exact results for the Josephson current, which is generally a smooth function of the superconducting phase difference e…
Andreev-reflection dominated transport is demonstrated in Al/n-In0.38Ga0.62As superconductor-semiconductor junctions grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs(001). High junction transparency was achieved in low-doped devices by exploiting Si interface bilayers to suppress the native Schottky barrier. It is argued that this technique is ideally suited for the fabrication of ballistic transport hybrid microstructures.
We theoretically demonstrate that a ferromagnetic/superconductor junction on the surface of three-dimensional topological insulators (3D TIs) has an anisotropic angle-dependent Andreev reflection when the in-plane magnetization has a component perpendicular to the junction. In the presence of in-plane magnetization, the Dirac cone's location adjusts in the $k$-space, whereas its out-of-plane component induces a gap. This movement leads to the anisotropic angle-dependent Andreev reflection and creates transverse conductance flows parallel to the interface. Also, an indirect gap induces in the j…
We study theoretically a junction of a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric non-Hermitian superconductor (PTS) placed between two conventional superconductors. We show that due to non-Hermitian electron-electron interaction in the PTS region and the combination of symmetries, only discrete values of phases of the conventional superconductors yield solutions for Andreev bound states. Remarkably, in the case of $0$ and $π$, we obtain growing and decaying in time Andreev bound states. For $π/2$ and $3π/2$, there is a Majorana zero mode penetrating through the junction in only one direction forming a quasipar…
We study the Josephson effect in a clean Superconductor-Ferromagnet-Superconductor junction for arbitrarily large spin polarizations. The Andreev reflection at a clean Ferromagnet-Superconductor interface is incomplete, and Andreev channels with a large incidence angle are progressively suppressed with increasing exchange energy. As a result, the critical current exhibits oscillations as a function of the exchange energy and of the length of the ferromagnet and has a temperature dependence which deviates from the one predicted by the quasiclassical theory.
We construct a nonequilibrium theory for the charge transfer through a diffusive array of alternating normal (N) and superconducting (S) islands comprising an SNSNS junction, with the size of the central S-island being smaller than the energy relaxation length. We demonstrate that in the nonequilibrium regime the central island acts as Andreev retransmitter with the Andreev conversions at both NS interfaces of the central island correlated via over-the-gap transmission and Andreev reflection. This results in a synchronized transmission at certain resonant voltages which can be experimentally o…
We calculate the electrical currents through a superconductor - insulator - superconductor junction which is also weakly coupled to a normal metal side probe. The voltage $V$ applied to the normal metal terminal controls the occupation of Andreev energy levels $E_n$, and therefore controls the Josephson current flowing through these levels. Whenever the probe voltage crosses an Andreev level, the Josephson current changes abruptly by an amount equal to the current flowing through the Andreev level. The differential conductance along the normal metal terminal permits spectroscopy of the Andreev…
Andreev reflection is investigated in layered anisotropic normal metal / superconductor (N/S) systems in the case of an energy gap Δin S not negligible with respect to the Fermi energy E_F, as it probably occurs with high critical temperature superconductors (HTS). We find that in these limits retro-reflectivity, which is a fundamental feature of Andreev reflection, is broken modifying sensitively transport across S/N interfaces. We discuss the consequences for supercurrents in HTS Josephson junctions and for the midgap states in S-N contacts
The projected SO(5) theory (pSO(5)) is used to resolve the puzzle of two distinct energy gaps in high T$_c$ Superconductor-Normal-Superconductor junctions. Counter to conventional theory of multiple Andreev reflections (MAR), the differential resistance peaks are associated with the antiferromagnetic resonance observed in neutron scattering, and not with Cooper pair breaking. The pSO(5) and MAR theories differ by the expected tunneling charges at the peaks. We propose that shot noise experiments could discriminate against the conventional interpretation.
Complete suppression of the native n-type Schottky barrier is demonstrated in Al/InGaAs(001) junctions grown by molecular-beam-epitaxy. This result was achieved by the insertion of Si bilayers at the metal-semiconductor interface allowing the realization of truly Ohmic non-alloyed contacts in low-doped and low-In content InGaAs/Si/Al junctions. It is shown that this technique is ideally suited for the fabrication of high-transparency superconductor-semiconductor junctions. To this end magnetotransport characterization of Al/Si/InGaAs low-n-doped single junctions below the Al critical temperatu…
We have investigated low-temperature transport properties of two-dimensional arrays of superconductor--normal-metal--superconductor (SNS) junctions. It has been found that in two-dimensional arrays of SNS junctions (i) a change in the energy spectrum within an interval of the order of the Thouless energy is observed even when the thermal broadening far exceeds the Thouless energy for a single SNS junction; (ii) the manifestation of the subharmonic energy gap structure (SGS) with high harmonic numbers is possible even if the energy relaxation length is smaller than that required for the realiza…
The current-voltage characteristic (CVC) of break junction made from polycrystalline Bi_{1.8}Pb_{0.3}Sr_{1.9}Ca_2Cu_3O_x is investigated. The experimental CVC has hysteretic feature that reflects a part of a curve with negative differential resistance. The CVC is discussed within the framework of the Kummel-Gunsenheimer-Nicolsky theory considering multiple Andreev reflections in superconductor/normal-metal/superconductor junctions.
Hybrid superconductor/graphene (SC/g) junctions are excellent candidates for investigating correlations between Cooper pairs and quantum Hall (QH) edge modes. Experimental studies are challenging as Andreev reflections are extremely sensitive to junction disorder and high magnetic fields are required to form QH edge states. We fabricated low-resistance SC/g interfaces, composed of graphene edge contacted with NbN with a barrier strength of $Z\approx 0.4$, that remain superconducting under magnetic fields larger than $18$ T. We establish the role of graphene's Dirac band structure on zero-field…
We consider a long topological Josephson junction formed on a conducting 2D surface of a 3D topological insulator (TI). The superconducting correlations are proximity-induced by s-wave superconductors covering the surface. The 1D spacing between the coverings is either unfilled or filled by a magnetic insulator. Generally, the Josephson current mediated by the TI surface is determined by scattering modes as well as by the states localized around the junction (Andreev bound states or Andreev bands). We find out that it is crucial to take into account both contributions to determine the current-…
The tunneling spectrum of an electron and a hole in metal-superconductor-metal junctions is computed using the Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory. The incident and the outgoing currents finally balance each other by an interface charge inside the superconductor and metal junction. The present computation shows a more abundant structure compared to that on a metal-superconductor junction, such as the resonance at bias voltages above the energy gap of the superconductor. The density of the interface charge shows a quantum-like oscillation.
Josephson junctions based on semiconductor nanowires are potential building blocks for electrically tunable qubit structures, e.g. the gatemon or the Andreev qubit. However, an actual realization requires the thorough investigation of the intrinsic excitation spectrum. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of low-loss superconducting microwave circuits that combine high quality factors with a well-controlled gate architecture by utilizing a flip-chip approach. This platform is then used to perform single-tone and two-tone experiments on Andreev states in in-situ grown InAs/Al core/half-shell na…