English

Anomalous Andreev interferometer: Study of an anomalous Josephson junction coupled to a normal wire

Superconductivity 2022-01-11 v2

Abstract

Josephson junctions (JJs), where both time-reversal and inversion symmetry are broken, exhibit a phase shift ϕ0\phi_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 ϕ0\phi_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 quasiparticle current IqpI_{\mathrm{qp}} flowing through the conductor has an anomalous component, which exists only at finite ϕ0\phi_0. Thus, the Andreev interferometry could be used to probe the ϕ0\phi_0 effect. We consider two realizations of the ϕ0\phi_0-junction and calculate IqpI_{\mathrm{qp}} in the interferometer: a superconducting structure with spin-orbit coupling and a system of spin-split superconductors with spin-polarized tunneling barriers.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2106.14021,
  title  = {Anomalous Andreev interferometer: Study of an anomalous Josephson junction coupled to a normal wire},
  author = {Alberto Hijano and Stefan Ilić and F. Sebastián Bergeret},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2106.14021},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

11 pages, 2 figures