English

Phase-shifted Andreev levels in an altermagnet Josephson junction

Superconductivity 2023-08-23 v1

Abstract

We compute the effect of a d-wave magnetization (altermagnetism) on the spectrum of bound states (Andreev levels) in a junction between two s-wave superconductors (gap Δ0\Delta_0, phase difference ϕ\phi). Compared to a nonmagnetic junction, the ϕ\phi-dependence of the spectrum is shifted by an offset ±δϕ\pm\delta\phi, dependent on the spin direction, so that the Andreev levels become spin-polarized. In a planar junction, oriented along the crystalline axis of dxyd_{xy}-wave symmetry, the excitation energies are determined by the normal-state transmission probability TT according to E=Δ01Tsin212(ϕ±δϕ)E=\Delta_0\sqrt{1-T\sin^2\tfrac{1}{2}(\phi\pm\delta\phi)}. We calculate the corresponding Josephson energy and supercurrent, recovering the 0-π\pi transition of related studies.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2306.16300,
  title  = {Phase-shifted Andreev levels in an altermagnet Josephson junction},
  author = {C. W. J. Beenakker and T. Vakhtel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.16300},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

7 pages, 8 figures