Theory of charge transport in diffusive normal metal/unconventional singlet superconductor contacts

Tanaka, Y. and Nazarov, Yu. V. and Golubov, A.A. and Kashiwaya, S. (2004) Theory of charge transport in diffusive normal metal/unconventional singlet superconductor contacts. Physical Review B: Condensed matter and materials physics, 69 (14). p. 144519. ISSN 1098-0121

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Abstract:	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 junction in both ballistic and diffusive cases. For d-wave superconductors, we calculate conductance spectra numerically for different orientations of the junctions, resistances, Thouless energies in DN, and transparencies of the interface. We demonstrate that conductance spectra exhibit a variety of features including a V-shaped gaplike structure, zero bias conductance peak (ZBCP) and zero bias conductance dip. We show that two distinct mechanisms: (i) coherent Andreev reflection (CAR) in DN and (ii) formation of midgap Andreev bound state at the interface of d-wave superconductors, are responsible for ZBCP, their relative importance being dependent on the angle alpha between the interface normal and the crystal axis of d-wave superconductors. For alpha= 0, the ZBCP is due to CAR in the junctions of low transparency with small Thouless energies. This is similar to the case of diffusive normal metal/insulator/s-wave superconductor junctions. With increase of alpha from zero to pi/4, the MABS contribution to ZBCP becomes more prominent and the effect of CAR is gradually suppressed. Such complex spectral features shall be observable in conductance spectra of realistic high-Tc junctions at very low temperature.
Item Type:	Article
Copyright:	© 2004 The American Physical Society
Faculty:	Science and Technology (TNW)
Research Group:	Low Temperatures - Biomagnetism (LT)
Link to this item:	http://purl.utwente.nl/publications/47775
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.69.144519
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