Subgap anomaly and above-energy-gap structure in chains of diffusive SNS junctions

We investigate a normal metal -- superconductor (point) contact in the limit where the number of conducting channels in the metallic wire is reduced to few channels. As the effective Fermi energy drops below the gap energy, a conducting band with a width twice the Fermi energy is formed. Depending on the mode of operation, the conduction band can be further squeezed, leading to various non-linear effects in the current-voltage characteristics such as current saturation, a N-s...

We study the nonlinear transport properties of NS (normal-superconductor) and NSN structures by means of a self-consistent microscopic description. A nonzero superfluid velocity causes the various quasiparticle channels within S to open at different voltages. The gap reduction is very sensitive to the details of quasiparticle scattering. At low temperatures, superconductivity, some times in a peculiar gapless form, may survive up to voltages much higher that $k_B T_c/e$. The ...

We have generalized the scattering-matrix theory of multiple Andreev reflections in mesoscopic Josephson junctions to the multi-mode case, and applied it to short superconductor/normal metal/superconductor junctions with diffusive electron transport. Both the dc and ac current-voltage characteristics are analyzed for a wide range of bias voltages $V$. For voltages smaller than the supeconducting gap the dc differential conductance of the junction diverges as $1/\sqrt{V}$.

We have studied the critical current of a diffusive superconductor - normal metal - superconductor (SNS) Josephson junction as a function of the electron energy distribution in the normal region. This was realized in a 4 terminal device, in which a mesoscopic gold wire between two electron reservoirs is coupled in its center to two superconducting electrodes. By varying the length of the wire and applying a voltage over it we are able to control the electron distribution func...

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 An...

We propose a phenomenological description of electronic transport through a normal metal/superconductor interface of arbitrary transparency, which accounts for the presence of electron-electron interaction in the normal metal. The effect of interactions is included through an energy-dependent transmission probability that is inserted in the expression for the current-voltage characteristics of a non-interacting system. This results in a crossover from the Andreev to the tunne...

The old problem of supercurrent in a long ballistic SNS Josephson junction is interpreted using a simple picture of the fermion energy levels in the normal and superconducting regions. We argue that a recent paper on the topic by Sonin contains erroneous results.

We study coherent multiple Andreev reflections in quantum SNS junctions of finite length and arbitrary transparency. The presence of superconducting bound states in these junctions gives rise to great enhancement of the subgap current. The effect is most pronounced in low-transparency junctions, $D\ll1$, and in the interval of applied voltage $\Delta/2<eV<\Delta$, where the amplitude of the current structures is proportional to the first power of the junction transparency $D$...

We study one dimensional chains of superconducting islands with a particular emphasis on the regime in which every second island is switched into its normal state, thus forming a superconductor-insulator-normal metal (S-I-N) repetition pattern. As is known since Giaever tunneling experiments, tunneling charge transport between a superconductor and a normal metal becomes exponentially suppressed, and zero-bias resistance diverges, as the temperature is reduced and the energy g...

We report on the fabrication and measurement results of the electrical transport properties of superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) weak links, made of PbIn superconductor and Au metal. The maximum supercurrent reaches up to ~ 6 \mu A at T = 2.3 K and the supercurrent persists even at higher temperature of T = 4.7 K. Magnetic field dependence of the critical current is consistent with a theoretical fit using the narrow junction model. The superconducting quantum i...