arXiv · 2003.00204
Signatures of the Higgs mode in transport through a normal-metal--superconductor junction
Abstract
A superconductor subject to electromagnetic irradiation in the terahertz range can show amplitude oscillations of its order parameter. However, coupling this so-called Higgs mode to the charge current is notoriously difficult. We propose to achieve such a coupling in a particle-hole-asymmetric configuration using a DC-voltage-biased normal-metal--superconductor tunnel junction. Using the quasiclassical Green's function formalism, we demonstrate three characteristic signatures of the Higgs mode: (i) The AC charge current exhibits a pronounced resonant behavior and is maximal when the radiation frequency coincides with the order parameter. (ii) The AC charge current amplitude exhibits a characteristic nonmonotonic behavior with increasing voltage bias. (iii) At resonance for large voltage bias, the AC current vanishes inversely proportional to the bias. These signatures provide an electric detection scheme for the Higgs mode.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Gaomin Tang, Wolfgang Belzig, Ulrich Zülicke, Christoph Bruder. 2020-02-29. Signatures of the Higgs mode in transport through a normal-metal--superconductor junction. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.2.022068
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.