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

We analyze the transport properties of contacts between unconventional superconductor and normal diffusive metal in the framework of the extended circuit theory. We obtain a general boundary condition for the Keldysh-Nambu Green's functions at the interface that is valid for arbitrary transparencies of the interface. This allows us to investigate the voltage-dependent conductance (conductance spectrum) of a diffusive normal metal (DN)/ unconventional singlet superconductor ju...

We argue that electron-electron interactions fundamentally restrict the penetration length of Cooper pairs into a diffusive normal metal (N) from a superconductor (S). At low temperatures this Cooper pair dephasing length $L_\varphi$ remains finite and does not diverge at $T \to 0$. We evaluate the subgap conductance of NS hybrids in the presence of electron-electron interactions and demonstrate that this new length $L_\varphi$ can be directly extracted from conductance measu...

We analyze the influence of the structure within a SNS junction on the multiple Andreev resonances in the subgap I-V characteristics. Coherent interference processes and incoherent propagation in the normal region are considered. The detailed geometry of the normal region where the voltage drops in superconducting contacts can lead to observable effects in the conductance at low voltages.

We develop a theory of current-voltage (I-U) characteristics for superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) junctions. At small voltages and sufficiently low temperatures the I-U characteristics of the junction is controlled by the inelastic relaxation time, \tau_{in}. In particular, the linear conductance is proportional to, \tau_{in}. In this regime the I-U characteristics can be expressed solely in terms of dependence of the density of states in the normal region, \n...

The Josephson Effect and Superconducting Proximity Effect were observed in Superconductor -Graphene-Superconductor (SGS) Josephson junctions with coherence lengths comparable to the distance between the superconducting leads. By comparing the measured temperature and doping dependence of the supercurrent and the proximity induced sub-gap features (multiple Andreev reflections) to theoretical predictions we find that, contrary to expectations, the ballistic transport model fai...

We use microwave excitation to elucidate the dynamics of long superconductor / normal metal / superconductor Josephson junctions. By varying the excitation frequency in the range 10 MHz - 40 GHz, we observe that the critical and retrapping currents, deduced from the dc voltage vs. dc current characteristics of the junction, are set by two different time scales. The critical current increases when the ac frequency is larger than the inverse diffusion time in the normal metal, ...

We study the tails of the density of states (DOS) in a diffusive superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) junction below the Thouless gap. We show that long-wave fluctuations of the concentration of impurities in the normal layer lead to the formation of subgap quasiparticle states, and calculate the associated subgap DOS in all effective dimensionalities. We compare the resulting tails with those arising from mesoscopic gap fluctuations, and determine the dimensionle...

We study Multiple Andreev Reflections in long diffusive superconductor(S)-normal metal(N)-superconductor junctions with low-transparency interfaces. Assuming strong thermalization in the weak link we calculate the current-voltage dependence $I(V)$. At intermediate temperatures, $E_\mathrm{Th}\ll T\ll\Delta$, the current is dominated by noncoherent multiple Andreev reflections and is obtained analytically. The results are generalized to a ferromagnetic junction. We find that t...

We have studied the diffusion of excess quasiparticles in a current-biased superconductor strip in proximity to a metallic trap junction. In particular, we have measured accurately the superconductor temperature at a near-gap injection voltage. By analyzing our data quantitatively, we provide a full description of the spatial distribution of excess quasiparticles in the superconductor. We show that a metallic trap junction contributes significantly to the evacuation of excess...

In highly resistive superconducting tunnel junctions, excess subgap current is usually observed and is often attributed to microscopic "pinholes" in the tunnel barrier. We have studied the subgap current in superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) and superconductor-insulator-normal-metal (SIN) junctions. In Al/AlOx/Al junctions, we observed a decrease of 2 orders of magnitude in the current upon the transition from the SIS to the SIN regime, where it then matched theory...