arXiv · cond-mat/0004340
Spatially resolved spectroscopy on a superconducting proximity structure
Abstract
We investigated the local density of states (LDOS) of a normal metal (N) in good electrical contact with a superconductor (S) as a function of the distance $x$ to the NS interface. The sample consists of a pattern of alternate stripes of Au and Nb made by UV-lithography. We used a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope to record simultaneously $dI/dV(V,x)$ curves and the topographic profile $z(x)$. Nearby the NS interface, all the spectra show a dip near the Fermi energy but depending on the geometry, different behaviours can be distinguished. First, when the characteristic size of the normal metal $L$ is much larger than the coherence length $ξ_N \simeq \sqrt{\hbar D_N/ 2Δ}$, the spectral extension of the dip decreases from $Δ$ at the NS interface to zero at distances $x\ggξ_N$. Second, when $L$ is comparable to $ξ_N$ the apparent gap in the LDOS is space-independent and related to the Thouless energy.
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M. Vinet, C. Chapelier, F. Lefloch. 2000-04-19. Spatially resolved spectroscopy on a superconducting proximity structure. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.63.165420
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