6533b7cefe1ef96bd1257a4a
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Normal metal - insulator - superconductor interferometer
T. T. HongistoK. Yu. Arutyunovsubject
PhysicsSuperconductivityCondensed matter physicsCondensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale PhysicsOscillationCondensed Matter - SuperconductivityFOS: Physical sciencesBiasingInsulator (electricity)ElectronCondensed Matter PhysicsMagnetic fluxElectronic Optical and Magnetic Materialslaw.inventionSuperconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)InterferometrylawCondensed Matter::SuperconductivityMesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)Beam splitterdescription
Hybrid normal metal - insulator - superconductor microstructures suitable for studying an interference of electrons were fabricated. The structures consist of a superconducting loop connected to a normal metal electrode through a tunnel barrier . An optical interferometer with a beam splitter can be considered as a classical analogue for this system. All measurements were performed at temperatures well below 1 K. The interference can be observed as periodic oscillations of the tunnel current (voltage) through the junction at fixed bias voltage (current) as a function of a perpendicular magnetic field. The magnitude of the oscillations depends on the bias point. It reaches a maximum at energy $eV$ which is close to the superconducting gap and decreases with an increase of temperature. Surprisingly, the period of the oscillations in units of magnetic flux $\Delta \Phi$ is equal neither to $h/e$ nor to $h/2e$, but significantly exceeds these values for larger loop circumferences. The origin of the phenomena is not clear.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-08-05 |