Normal reflection at superconductor - normal metal interfaces due to Fermi surface mismatch
Abstract
Electrons can be reflected at an interface between two metals because of a dielectric barrier or different properties of the Fermi surface. Andreev reflection allows to directly measure normal reflection when one of the metals is a superconductor. We have investigated normal reflection at interfaces between non-magnetic normal metals and superconducting Nb (Tc = 9.2 K) and Al (Tc = 1.2 K). The distribution of the values of the relative strength of the interface barrier, Z, for a number of contacts of a specific metal combination shows a well-defined peak which can be attributed to Fermi surface mismatch. Our reflection coefficients are generally smaller than those predicted theoretically or those derived from proximity-effect studies of normal-superconductor bi-layers.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1109.5038,
title = {Normal reflection at superconductor - normal metal interfaces due to Fermi surface mismatch},
author = {Elina Tuuli and Kurt Gloos},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1109.5038},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, submitted to Proceedings of the 26th Conference on Low Temperature Physics