Andreev tunneling into a one-dimensional Josephson junction array

Abstract

In this letter we consider Andreev tunneling between a normal metal and a one dimensional Josephson junction array with finite-range Coulomb energy. The $I-V$ characteristics strongly deviate from the classical linear Andreev current. We show that the non linear conductance possesses interesting scaling behavior when the chain undergoes a T=0 superconductor-insulator transition of Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii type. When the chain has quasi-long range order, the low lying excitation are gapless and the $I-V$ curves are power-law (the linear relation is recovered when charging energy can be disregarded). When the chain is in the insulating phase the Andreev current is blocked at a threshold which is proportional to the inverse correlation length in the chain (much lower than the Coulomb gap) and which vanishes at the transition point.

8 pages LATEX, 3 figures available upon request

References in corpus (1)

• Interference of two electrons entering a superconductor

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Quantum Phase Transitions and Vortex Dynamics in Superconducting Networks
• Quantum Fluctuations in the Equilibrium State of a Thin Superconducting Loop
• First experimental evidence of one-dimensional plasma modes in superconducting thin wires
• Subgap noise of a superconductor-normal-metal tunnel interface
• Supersolid phase in fully frustrated Josephson junction arrays
• Andreev reflection off a fluctuating superconductor in the absence of equilibrium
• Photo-assisted Andreev reflection as a probe of quantum noise
• Josephson junction chains with long-range interactions: Phase slip proliferation versus Kosterlitz-Thouless transition