Sticky Normal-Superconductor Interface

Abstract

We study the quantum Goos-Hänchen(GH) effect for wave-packet dynamics at a normal/superconductor (NS) interface. We find that the effect is amplified by a factor $(E_F/\Delta )$, with $E_F$ the Fermi energy and $\Delta$ the gap. Interestingly, the GH effect appears only as a time delay $\delta t$ without any lateral shift, and the corresponding delay length is about $(E_F/\Delta ){\lambda }_F$, with ${\lambda }_F$ the Fermi wavelength. This makes the NS interface "sticky" when $\Delta \ll E_F$, since typically GH effects are of wavelength order. This "sticky" behavior can be further enhanced by a resonance mode in NSNS interface. Finally, for a large $\Delta$, the resonance-mode effect makes a transition from Andreev to the specular electron reflection as the width of the sandwiched superconductor is reduced.