A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä
Andreev-reflection spectroscopy with superconducting indium-A case study
Tekijät: Gloos K, Tuuli E
Kustantaja: AMER INST PHYSICS
Julkaisuvuosi: 2013
Journal: Low Temperature Physics
Tietokannassa oleva lehden nimi: LOW TEMPERATURE PHYSICS
Lehden akronyymi: LOW TEMP PHYS+
Numero sarjassa: 3
Vuosikerta: 39
Numero: 3
Aloitussivu: 252
Lopetussivu: 258
Sivujen määrä: 7
ISSN: 1063-777X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4794999
Tiivistelmä
We have investigated Andreev reflection at interfaces between superconducting indium (T-c = 3.4 K) and several normal conducting nonmagnetic metals (palladium, platinum, and silver) down to T = 0.1K as well as zinc (T-c = 0.87 K) in its normal state at T = 2.5 K. We analyzed the point-contact spectra with the modified one-dimensional BTK theory valid for ballistic transport. It includes Dynes' quasiparticle lifetime as fitting parameter C in addition to superconducting energy gap 2 Delta and strength Z of the interface barrier. For contact areas from less than 1 nm(2) to 10 000 nm(2) the BTK Z-parameter was close to 0.5, corresponding to transmission coefficients of about 80%, independent of the normal metal. The very small variation of Z indicates that the interfaces have a negligible dielectric tunneling barrier. Also Fermi surface mismatch does not account for the observed Z. The extracted value Z approximate to 0.5 can be explained by assuming that practically all of our point contacts are in the diffusive regime. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [ http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4794999]
We have investigated Andreev reflection at interfaces between superconducting indium (T-c = 3.4 K) and several normal conducting nonmagnetic metals (palladium, platinum, and silver) down to T = 0.1K as well as zinc (T-c = 0.87 K) in its normal state at T = 2.5 K. We analyzed the point-contact spectra with the modified one-dimensional BTK theory valid for ballistic transport. It includes Dynes' quasiparticle lifetime as fitting parameter C in addition to superconducting energy gap 2 Delta and strength Z of the interface barrier. For contact areas from less than 1 nm(2) to 10 000 nm(2) the BTK Z-parameter was close to 0.5, corresponding to transmission coefficients of about 80%, independent of the normal metal. The very small variation of Z indicates that the interfaces have a negligible dielectric tunneling barrier. Also Fermi surface mismatch does not account for the observed Z. The extracted value Z approximate to 0.5 can be explained by assuming that practically all of our point contacts are in the diffusive regime. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [ http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4794999]