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Conductance enhancement in quantum point contact-semiconductor-superconductor devices

Niels Asger Mortensen·Antti-Pekka Jauho·Karsten Flensberg·Henning Schomerus
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Abstract

We present numerical calculations of the conductance of an interface between a phase-coherent two-dimensional electron gas and a superconductor with a quantum point contact in the normal region. Using a scattering matrix approach we reconsider the geometry of De Raedt, Michielsen, and Klapwijk [Phys. Rev. B, 50, 631 (1994)] which was studied within the time-dependent Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism. We find that the factor-of-two enhancement of the conductance G_NS compared to the normal state conductance G_N for ideal interfaces may be suppressed for interfaces with a quantum point contact with only a few propagating modes. The suppression is found to depend strongly on the position of the Fermi level. We also study the suppression due to a barrier at the interface and find an anomalous behavior caused by quasiparticle interference. Finally, we consider the limit of sequential tunneling and find a suppression of the factor-of-two enhancement which may explain the absence of conductance enhancement in experiments on metal-superconductor structures.

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Niels Asger Mortensen, Antti-Pekka Jauho, Karsten Flensberg, Henning Schomerus. 1999-07-29. Conductance enhancement in quantum point contact-semiconductor-superconductor devices. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.60.13762

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