arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A. Hädicke.
The Andreev current through an ultrasmall NIS junction is calculated in a systematic way by means of a nonlinear response approach basing on the elementary Hamiltonian of quasiparticle tunneling. The voltage dependence of current and differential conductance as well as the Andreev conductance are derived for low- and high-impedance environments, respectively.
Single-charge tunneling in ultrasmall voltage biased SIS junctions in a high-impedance electromagnetic environment is considered. The Cooper pair current is calculated at T=0 on the basis of the elementary tunnel Hamiltonian for quasiparticles. Therefore, the transfer of Cooper pairs emerges automatically as an effect of higher order perturbation theory. The supercurrent also depends on the dissipative part of the Josephson current amplitude.
The temperature dependence of the I-V characteristics of many single-electron tunneling devices enable thermometer operation of these systems. We investigate two normal conducting kinds of them, {\sl (a)} a single junction in a high-impedance environment, and {\sl (b)} a double junction. The characteristics of both devices show a crossover from Coulomb blockade at low temperatures to ohmic behavior at high temperatures. The related differential conductivity dip allows the determination of the junctions temperature. Both configurations {\sl (a)} and {\sl (b)} are expected to work at least within the range $0.5\leβE_{\rm C}\le 10$, where $E_{\rm C}$ is the Coulomb energy of the system under investigation. We present an analytical solution for both low- and high-temperature case of {\sl (a)} and {\sl (b)} as well as numerical results and their fit, including the effect of co-tunneling in case of a double junction.
The effect of a high--frequency microwave irradiation on the averaged stationary charge in a single--electron tunneling box (SET--box) with superconducting island is investigated. The resulting $\langle Q\rangle$--$Q_g$ characteristics are modified compared with those from the well--known constant voltage--driven box. It can be shown that there is a cross--over from the 2e--periodic regime in $Q_g$ corresponding to the parity effect to 1e--periodic behavior not only with increasing temperature but also with increasing irradiation amplitude.