Thermal conductance of a proximity superconductor

We study heat transport in hybrid normal metal - superconductor - normal metal (NSN) structures. We find the thermal conductance of a short superconducting wire to be strongly enhanced beyond the BCS value due to inverse proximity effect. The measurements agree with a model based on the quasiclassical theory of superconductivity in the diffusive limit. We determine a crossover temperature below which quasiparticle heat conduction dominates over the electron-phonon relaxation.Comment: 4+ pages, 3 figure

Origin of Hysteresis in a Proximity Josephson Junction

We investigate hysteresis in the transport properties of Superconductor - Normal metal - Superconductor (S-N-S) junctions at low temperatures by measuring directly the electron temperature in the normal metal. Our results demonstrate unambiguously that the hysteresis results from an increase of the normal metal electron temperature once the junction switches to the resistive state. In our geometry, the electron temperature increase is governed by the thermal resistance of the superconducting electrodes of the junction

Laterally proximized aluminum tunnel junctions

This letter presents experiments on junctions fabricated by a technique that enables the use of high-quality aluminum oxide tunnel barriers with normal metal electrodes at low temperatures. Inverse proximity effect is applied to diminish the superconductivity of an aluminum dot through a clean lateral connection to a normal metal electrode. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this method, fully normal-state single electron transistors (SETs) and normal metal-insulator-superconductor (NIS) junctions applying proximized Aljunctions were fabricated. The transport characteristics of the junctions were similar to those obtained from standard theoreticalmodels of regular SETs and NIS junctions.Peer reviewe

Low-temperature characterization of Nb-Cu-Nb weak links with Ar ion-cleaned interfaces

We characterize niobium-based lateral Superconductor (S) - Normal metal (N) - Superconductor weak links through low-temperature switching current measurements and tunnel spectroscopy. We fabricate the SNS devices in two separate lithography and deposition steps, combined with strong argon ion cleaning before the normal metal deposition in the last step. Our SNS weak link consists of high-quality sputtered Nb electrodes that are contacted with evaporated Cu. The two-step fabrication flow enables great flexibility in the choice of materials and pattern design. A comparison of the temperature-dependent equilibrium critical supercurrent with theoretical predictions indicates that the quality of the Nb-Cu interface is similar to that of evaporated Al-Cu weak links. Aiming at increased sensitivity, range of operation temperatures, and thermal isolation, we investigate how these SNS structures can be combined with shadow-evaporated aluminum tunnel junctions for sensor applications that utilize the superconducting proximity effect. To this end, we demonstrate a hybrid magnetic flux sensor based on a Nb-Cu-Nb SNS junction, where the phase-dependent normal metal density of states is probed with an Al tunnel junction.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Magnetic-field-induced stabilization of nonequilibrium superconductivity in a normal-metal/insulator/superconductor junction

A small magnetic field is found to enhance relaxation processes in a superconductor, thus stabilizing superconductivity in nonequilibrium conditions. In a normal-metal (N)/insulator/superconductor (S) tunnel junction, applying a field of the order of 100μT leads to significantly improved cooling of the N island by quasiparticle (QP) tunneling. These findings are attributed to faster QP relaxation within the S electrodes as a result of enhanced QP drain through regions with a locally suppressed energy gap due to magnetic vortices in the S leads at some distance from the junction.Peer reviewe