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arXiv · 1310.6508

Tunneling and Relaxation of Single Quasiparticles in a Normal-Superconductor-Normal Single Electron Transistor

Andreas Heimes·Ville F. Maisi·Dmitri S. Golubev·Michael Marthaler·Gerd Schön·Jukka P. Pekola
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Abstract

We investigate the properties of a hybrid single electron transistor, involving a small superconducting island sandwiched between normal metal leads, which is driven by dc plus ac voltages. In order to describe its properties we derive from the microscopic theory a set of coupled equations. They consist of a master equation for the probability to find excess charges on the island, with rates depending on the distribution of non-equilibrium quasiparticles. Their dynamics follows from a kinetic equation which accounts for the excitation by single-electron tunneling as well as the relaxation and eventual recombination due to the interaction with phonons. Our low-temperature results compare well with recent experimental findings obtained for ac-driven hybrid single-electron turnstiles.

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Andreas Heimes, Ville F. Maisi, Dmitri S. Golubev, Michael Marthaler, Gerd Schön, Jukka P. Pekola. 2013-10-24. Tunneling and Relaxation of Single Quasiparticles in a Normal-Superconductor-Normal Single Electron Transistor. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.89.014508

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