Supercurrents through gated superconductor-normal-metal-superconductor contacts: the Josephson-transistor

We analyze the transport through a narrow ballistic superconductor-normal- metal-superconductor Josephson contact with non-ideal transmission at the superconductor-normal-metal interfaces, e.g., due to insulating layers, effective mass steps, or band misfits (SIN interfaces). The electronic spectrum in the normal wire is determined through the combination of Andreev- and normal reflection at the SIN interfaces. Strong normal scattering at the SIN interfaces introduces electron- and hole-like resonances in the normal region which show up in the quasi-particle spectrum. These resonances have strong implications for the critical supercurrent $I_c$ which we find to be determined by the lowest quasi-particle level: tuning the potential $\mu_{x0}$ to the points where electron- and hole-like resonances cross, we find sharp peaks in $I_{\rm c}$, resulting in a transitor effect. We compare the performance of this Resonant Josephson-Transistor (RJT) with that of a Superconducting Single Electron Transistor (SSET).Comment: to appear in PRB, 11 pages, 9 figure

Magnetoresistance of one-dimensional subbands in tunnel-coupled double quantum wires

We study the low-temperature in-plane magnetoresistance of tunnel-coupled quasi-one-dimensional quantum wires. The wires are defined by two pairs of mutually aligned split gates on opposite sides of a < 1 micron thick AlGaAs/GaAs double quantum well heterostructure, allowing independent control of their widths. In the ballistic regime, when both wires are defined and the field is perpendicular to the current, a large resistance peak at ~6 Tesla is observed with a strong gate voltage dependence. The data is consistent with a counting model whereby the number of subbands crossing the Fermi level changes with field due to the formation of an anticrossing in each pair of 1D subbands