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Generalized Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory and conductance spectra with particle-hole mixing interface potential

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Abstract

We extend the Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk treatment including particle-hole mixing boundary conditions in the Bogoliubov-de Gennes scattering problem to describe anomalous conductance features often reported in normal-metal/superconductor junctions. We calculate the differential conductance spectra and show that conductance dips, not expected in the standard formulation, can be explained in terms of a phase π-shift between the bulk and the interface order parameter. A tight-binding model is also introduced to give a quantitative description of the phase-shift in terms of the transparency and polarization of the interface. We characterize the physics arising from particle-hole mixing boundary conditions at the interface and its effects on the conductance anomalies in superconductor-normal heterostructures.

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Correspondence to Roberta Citro.

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Catapano, M., Romeo, F., Citro, R. et al. Generalized Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory and conductance spectra with particle-hole mixing interface potential. Eur. Phys. J. B 88, 329 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2015-60574-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2015-60574-6

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