When two three-dimensional topological insulators （TIs） are brought close to each other with their surfaces aligned, the surfaces form a line junction. Similarly, three TI surfaces, not lying in a single plane, can ...When two three-dimensional topological insulators （TIs） are brought close to each other with their surfaces aligned, the surfaces form a line junction. Similarly, three TI surfaces, not lying in a single plane, can form an atomic-scale nanostep junction. In this paper, Andreev reflection in a TI-TI-superconductor nanostep junction is investigated theoretically. Be- cause of the existence of edge states along each line junction, the conductance for a nanostep junction is suppressed. When the incident energy （e） of an electron is larger than the superconductor gap （A）, the Andreev conductance in a step junction is less than unity while for a plane junction it is unity. The Andreev conductance is found to depend on the height of the step junction. The Andreev conductance exhibits oscillatory behavior as a function of the junction height with the amplitude of the oscillations remaining unchanged when e = 0, but decreasing for e = A, which is different from the case of the plane junction. The height of the step is therefore an important parameter for Andreev reflection in nanostep junctions, and plays a role similar to that of the delta potential barrier in normal metal-superconductor plane junctions.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11204065 and 11474085)the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province,China(Grant Nos.A2013205168 and A2014205005)
文摘When two three-dimensional topological insulators （TIs） are brought close to each other with their surfaces aligned, the surfaces form a line junction. Similarly, three TI surfaces, not lying in a single plane, can form an atomic-scale nanostep junction. In this paper, Andreev reflection in a TI-TI-superconductor nanostep junction is investigated theoretically. Be- cause of the existence of edge states along each line junction, the conductance for a nanostep junction is suppressed. When the incident energy （e） of an electron is larger than the superconductor gap （A）, the Andreev conductance in a step junction is less than unity while for a plane junction it is unity. The Andreev conductance is found to depend on the height of the step junction. The Andreev conductance exhibits oscillatory behavior as a function of the junction height with the amplitude of the oscillations remaining unchanged when e = 0, but decreasing for e = A, which is different from the case of the plane junction. The height of the step is therefore an important parameter for Andreev reflection in nanostep junctions, and plays a role similar to that of the delta potential barrier in normal metal-superconductor plane junctions.
