Spin transport properties in ferromagnet/superconductor junctions on topological insulator

The spin-dependent Andreev reflection is investigated theoretically by analyzing the electronic transport in a thin-film topological insulator (TI) ferromagnet/superconductor (FM/SC) junction. The tunneling conductance and shot noise are calculated based on the Dirac-Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation and Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory. It is found that the magnetic gap in ferromagnet can enhance the Andreev retro-reflection but suppress the specular Andreev reflection. The gate potential applied to the electrode on top of superconductor can enhance the two types of reflections. There is a transition between the two types of reflections at which both the tunneling conductance and differential shot noise become zero. These results provide a method to realize and detect experimentally the intra-band specular Andreev reflection in thin film TI-based FM/SC structures.     

Spin-dependent quasiparticle reflection and bound States at interfaces with itinerant antiferromagnets

We find a novel channel of quasiparticle reflection from the simplest two-sublattice antiferromagnet (AF) on a bipartite lattice. Low-energy quasiparticles in a normal metal (N) experience spin-dependent retroreflection at AF/N interfaces. As a combined effect of antiferromagnetic and Andreev reflections, subgap Andreev states arise at an AF/superconductor (SC) interface. When the antiferromagnetic reflection dominates the specular one, Andreev bound states have almost zero energy on AF/s-wave superconductor (sSC) interfaces, whereas there are no low-energy subgap states on AF/d-wave superconductor (dSC) boundaries. For an sSC/AF/sSC junction, the bound states are found to split, due to the finite width of the AF interlayer, and carry the supercurrent. The theory developed in the present Letter is based on a novel quasiclassical approach, which applies to interfaces involving itinerant antiferromagnets.     

拓扑绝缘体基铁磁/f-波超导隧道结Andreev反射研究

基于Bogoliubov-de Gennes方程和Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk理论研究了三维拓扑绝缘体基铁磁/各向异性f-波超导隧道结的Andreev反射,其中f-波超导体选取f₁和f₂-波两种配对势.研究发现,对于f₁和f₂波,铁磁体中的磁能隙可以增强传统的Andreev逆向反射,但对Andreev镜面反射有抑制作用;但随着施加在超导体顶部电极上的栅极电位的增加,两种类型的反射都会增强.通过改变磁能隙,可以调节两种反射在准粒子输运过程中占有优势的程度.这些结果提供了一种实验检测拓扑绝缘体薄膜中镜面Andreev反射的方法.此外,隧穿电导和散粒噪声谱的差异可用于区分f₁和f₂波配对势.     

Specular Andreev reflection in graphene

By combining the Dirac equation of relativistic quantum mechanics with the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation of superconductivity we investigate the electron-hole conversion at a normal-metal-superconductor interface in graphene. We find that the Andreev reflection of Dirac fermions has several unusual features: (1) the electron and hole occupy different valleys of the band structure; (2) at normal incidence the electron-hole conversion happens with unit efficiency in spite of the large mismatch in Fermi wavelengths at the two sides of the interface; and, most fundamentally: (3) away from normal incidence the reflection angle may be the same as the angle of incidence (retroreflection) or it may be inverted (specular reflection). Specular Andreev reflection dominates in weakly doped graphene, when the Fermi wavelength in the normal region is large compared to the superconducting coherence length.     

Properties of pseudospin polarization on a graphene-based spin singlet superconducting junction

We investigate theoretically transport characteristics in a graphene-based pseudospinmagnet/superconductor junction, including the s-wave and the d-wave pairing symmetry potential in the superconducting region. It is found that the pseudospin polarization, in sharp contrast to spin polarization in the graphene-based ferromagnet/superconductor junction, holds no influence on the specular Andreev reflection for a negligible Fermi energy. Furthermore, the Fano factor is cru-ially affected by the zero bias state. Therefore, we suggest here that the findings could shed light on the realization of graphene-based pseudospintronics devices and provide a new way to detect the specular Andreev reflection and the zero bias state in the actual experiments.     

Specular Andreev reflection in the interface of a two-dimensional semiconductor with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and a d-wave superconductor

We reveal that the recently discovered specular Andreev reflection (SAR) [C. W. J. Beenakker, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 067007 (2006)] can occur in semiconductors where the spin-orbit coupling is finite. We demonstrate this finding in the hybrid of a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and a superconductor. In the limit of low density or a strong spin-orbit coupling, specular Andreev reflection is finite. We also show that unit electron-hole conversion is possible in a specular Andreev reflection due to the different topological structures of the equal-energy surface between electrons and holes. The SAR in the semiconductor is determined by the relative orientation of wave vector to group velocity, which can be analyzed by ray equations.     

Strain-modulated anisotropic Andreev reflection in a graphene-based superconducting junction

We investigate the Andreev reflection across a uniaxial strained graphene-based superconducting junction. Compared with pristine graphene-based superconducting junction, three opposite properties are found. Firstly, in the regime of the interband conversion of electron-hole, the Andreev retro-reflection happens. Secondly, in the regime of the intraband conversion of electron-hole, the specular Andreev reflection happens. Thirdly, the perfect Andreev reflection, electron-hole conversion with unit efficiency, happens at a nonzero incident angle of electron. These three exotic properties arise from the strain-induced anisotropic band structure of graphene, which breaks up the original relation between the direction of velocity of particle and the direction of the corresponding wavevector. Our finding gives an insight into the understanding of Andreev reflection and provides an alternative method to modulate the Andreev reflection.     

Effect of spin-dependent phases of tunneling electrons on the conductance of a point ferromagnet/isolator/superconductor contact

The Andreev reflection probability for a ferromagnet/isolator/superconductor (FIS) contact at the arbitrary spin-dependent amplitudes of the electron waves transmitted through and reflected from the potential barrier is found. It is shown that the Andreev reflection probabilities of electron and hole excitations in the FIS contact are different. The energy levels of the Andreev bound states are found. The ballistic conductance of the point FIS contact is calculated. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Specular Andreev reflection at the edge of an InAs/GaSb double quantum well with band inversion

We experimentally investigate transport through the side junction between a niobium superconductor and the mesa edge of a two-dimensional system, realized in an InAs/GaSb double quantum well with band inversion. We demonstrate, that different transport regimes can be achieved by variation of the mesa step. We observe anomalous behavior of Andreev reflection within a finite low-bias interval, which is invariant for both transport regimes. We connect this behavior with the transition from retro-(at low biases) to specular (at high ones) Andreev reflection channels in an InAs/GaSb double quantum well with band inversion.     

Andreev reflection and bound states in topological insulator based planar and step Josephson junctions

A superconductor-topological insulator-superconductor (S/TI/S) junction having normal region at angle θ is studied theoretically to investigate the junction angle dependency of the Andreev reflection and the formation of the Andreev bound states in the step and planar S/TI/S structures. It is found that the Andreev reflection becomes θ dependent only in the presence of the potential barrier at the TI/S interface. In particular, the step and planar TI/S junction have totally different conductive behavior with bias voltage and potential barrier in the regime of retro and specular Andreev reflection. Interestingly, we find that the elliptical cross section of Dirac cone, an important feature of topological insulator with step surface defect, affects the Fabry-Perot resonance of the Andreev reflection induced Andreev bound states (which become Majorana zero energy states at low chemical potential) in the step S/TI/S structure. Unlike the usual planar S/TI/S structures, we find these ellipticity affected Andreev bound states lead to non-monotonic Josephson super-current in the step S/TI/S structure whose non-monotonicity can be controlled with the use of the potential barrier, which may find applications in nanoelectronics.     

Nonequilibrium Kondo effect and Andreev reflection through double quantum dots with spin-flip scattering

The Kondo effect and the Andreev reflection tunneling through a normal (ferromagnet)-double quantum dots-superconductor hybrid system is examined in the low temperature by using the nonequilibrium Green's function technique in combination with the slave-boson mean-field theory. The interplay of the Kondo physics and the Andreev bound state physics can be controlled by varying the interdot hopping strength. The Andreev differential conductance is mainly determined by the competition between Kondo states and Andreev states. The spin-polarization of the ferromagnetic electrode increases the zero-bias Kondo peak. The spin-flip scattering influences the Kondo effect and the Andreev reflection in a nontrivial way. For the ferromagnetic electrode with sufficiently large spin polarization, the negative Andreev differential conductance is found when the spin flip strength in the double quantum dots is sufficiently strong.     

Spin-Triplet Andreev Reflection in Ferromagnet/Ferromangnet/s-Wave Superconductor Junctions

Four-component Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations are applied to study the tunnelling conductance spectra G（ E） of half-metallic ferromagnet/ferromagnet/s-wave superconductor tunnel junctions. It is found that only for noncollinear magnetizations, there exists nonzero G（ E） structure within the energy gap, which is a signature of appearance of the novel Andreev reflection and spin-triplet pairing correlations.     

Determination of the spin polarization of half-metallic CrO(2) by point contact Andreev reflection.

Andreev reflection at a Pb/CrO(2) point contact has been used to determine the spin polarization of single-crystal CrO(2) films made by chemical vapor deposition. The spin polarization is found to be 0.96 +/- 0.01, which confirms that CrO(2) is a half-metallic ferromagnet, as theoretically predicted.     

铁磁-绝缘层-d波超导结中的Andreev反射特性

考虑到铁磁层中的磁交换作用和界面散射效应,利用推广的Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk散射理论,计算铁磁-绝缘层-d波超导结中的准粒子输运系数与隧道谱.研究表明：铁磁层中的交换场能抑制Andreev反射,使得依赖于准粒子入射角的Andreev反射表现出瞬息波的行为,呈现一些新的隧道谱特征. 关键词： Andreev反射 d波超导 隧道谱     

Incomplete Andreev reflection in a clean SFS junction

We study the stationary Josephson effect in a ballistic superconductor/ferromagnet/superconductor junction for arbitrarily large spin polarizations. Due to the exchange interaction in the ferromagnet, the Andreev reflection is incomplete. We describe how this effect modifies the Josephson current in the crossover from a superconductor/normal metal/superconductor junction to a superconductor/half metal/superconductor junction.     

Selective Andreev reflection tuned by magnetic barriers in graphene-superconductor hybrid junctions

We investigate the direction-dependent Andreev reflection of normal state-superconductor junctions both in monolayer and bilayer graphene with a single magnetic barrier by means of the Green?s function formalism. Such a barrier is capable of tuning the preferred angles of incidence for the Andreev retro-reflection. It enhances the specular reflection probability for certain angles of incidence in bilayer-based hybrid structures. We further study the impacts of magnetic barriers on the monolayer and bilayer hybrid structures by calculating the differential conductances within the Blonder–Tinkham–Klapwijk formula for experimental comparisons.     

How to distinguish between specular and retroconfigurations for Andreev reflection in graphene rings

We numerically investigate Andreev reflection in a graphene ring with one normal conducting and one superconducting lead by solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation within the Landauer-Büttiker formalism. By tuning chemical potential and bias voltage, it is possible to switch between regimes where electron and hole originate from the same band (retroconfiguration) or from different bands (specular configuration) of the graphene dispersion, respectively. We find that the dominant contributions to the Aharonov-Bohm conductance oscillations in the subgap transport are of period h/2e in retroconfiguration and of period h/e in specular configuration, confirming the predictions obtained from a qualitative analysis of interfering scattering paths. Because of the robustness against disorder and moderate changes to the system, this provides a clear signature to distinguish both types of Andreev reflection processes in graphene.     

Spin-triplet pairing states in ferromagnet/ferromagnet/d-wave superconductor heterojunctions with noncollinear magnetizations

Tunneling conductance in clean ferromagnet/ ferromagnet/d-wave superconductor (F/F/d-wave S) double tunnel junctions is studied by use of four-component Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. The novel Andreev reflection appears due to noncollinear magnetizations, in which the incident electron and the Andreev-reflected hole come from the same spin subband, resulting in spin-triplet pairing states near the F/S interface. In the highly polarized Fs case, the conductance within the energy gap exhibits a conversion from a zero-bias dip in the parallel magnetizations to a spilt zero-bias peak in the perpendicular magnetizations.     

Andreev Tunneling Through a Ferromagnet/Quantum-Dot/Superconductor System

We study Andreev tunneling through a ferromagnet/quantum-dot (QD)/superconductor system. By usingnonequilibrum Green function method, the averaged occupation of electrons in QD and the Andreev tunneling currentare studied. Comparing to the norma-metal/quantum-dot/superconductor, the system shows significant changes: (i)The averaged occupations of spin-up and spin-down electrons are not equal. (ii) With the increase of the polarizationof ferromagnetic lead, the Andreev reflection current decreases. (iii) However, even the ferromagnetic lead reaches fullpolarization, the averaged occupation of spin-down electrons is not zero. The physics of these changes is discussed.     

Anomalous retroreflection from strongly absorbing nanoporous semiconductors

Pronounced retroreflection behavior is reported for a fishnet nanoporous strongly absorbing semiconductor material. Retroreflection features a half-cone about 0.35 rad along with diffusive specular reflection for all angles of incidence. Retroreflection is apparent by the naked eye with daylight illumination and exhibits no selectivity with respect to wavelength and polarization of incident light featuring minor depolarization of retroreflected light. The reflectance in the backward direction measures 12% with respect to a white scattering etalon. The phenomenon can be classified neither as coherent backscattering nor as Anderson localization of light. The primary model includes light scattering from strongly absorptive and refractive superwavelength clusters existing within the porous fishnet structure. A reasonable qualitative explanation is based on the fact that strict retroreflection obeys shorter paths inside absorbing medium, whereas all alternative paths will lead to stronger absorption of light.