English

Josephson Current through a Semiconductor Nanowire: effect of strong spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2012-10-26 v2 Superconductivity

Abstract

We study coherent transport through a semiconductor nanowire in the presence of spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting due to an applied magnetic field. By employing analytical and numerical techniques we develop a theory for the Josephson effect in the superconductor-semiconductor nanowire-superconductor structure. We show that Josephson current through the clean semiconductor nanowire exhibits a number of interesting features due to the interplay between the Zeeman splitting and spin-orbit coupling. We also study effect how disorder in the nanowire affects Andreev bound-state energy spectrum and calculate local density of states at the junction.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1201.1918,
  title  = {Josephson Current through a Semiconductor Nanowire: effect of strong spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting},
  author = {Meng Cheng and Roman M. Lutchyn},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1201.1918},
  year   = {2012}
}