Supercurrent-enabled Andreev reflection in a chiral quantum Hall edge state

Andreev reflection; Edge state; Microscopic theory; Proximity couplings; Quantum hall; S-waves; Superconducting correlations; Supercurrents; Through signature; Wave superconductors; Physics and Astronomy (all); Physics - Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall Effect; General Physics and Astronomy

Abstract :

[en] A chiral quantum Hall (QH) edge state placed in proximity to an s-wave superconductor experiences induced superconducting correlations. Recent experiments have observed the effect of proximity coupling in QH edge states through signatures of the mediating process of Andreev reflection. We present the microscopic theory behind this effect by modeling the system with a many-body Hamiltonian, consisting of an s-wave superconductor, subject to spin-orbit coupling and a magnetic field, which is coupled by electron tunneling to an integer QH edge state. By integrating out the superconductor we obtain an effective pairing Hamiltonian in the QH edge state. We clarify the qualitative appearance of nonlocal superconducting correlations in a chiral edge state and analytically predict the suppression of electron-hole conversion at low energies (Pauli blocking) and negative resistance as experimental signatures of Andreev reflection in this setup. In particular, we show how two surface phenomena of the superconductor, namely, Rashba spin-orbit coupling and a supercurrent due to the Meissner effect, are essential for the Andreev reflection. Our work provides a promising pathway to the realization of Majorana zero modes and their parafermionic generalizations.

Disciplines :

Physics

Author, co-author :

MICHELSEN, Andreas Nicolai Bock ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine > Department of Physics and Materials Science > Team Thomas SCHMIDT ; SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, United Kingdom

Recher, Patrik ; Institut für Mathematische Physik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany ; Laboratory for Emerging Nanometrology, Braunschweig, Germany

Braunecker, Bernd ; SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, United Kingdom

SCHMIDT, Thomas ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) > Department of Physics and Materials Science (DPHYMS)

External co-authors :

yes

Language :

English

Title :

Supercurrent-enabled Andreev reflection in a chiral quantum Hall edge state

Publication date :

2023

Journal title :

Physical Review Research

eISSN :

2643-1564

Publisher :

American Physical Society

Volume :

Issue :

Peer reviewed :

Editorial reviewed

Additional URL :

https://link.aps.org/article/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.013066

Funders :

Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Funding text :

The authors wish to thank Harold Baranger, Lingfei Zhao, and Pablo Burset for fruitful discussions. A.B.M. and T.L.S. acknowledge support from the National Research Fund, Luxembourg, under the grant ATTRACT, Grant No. A14/MS/7556175/MoMeSys. A.B.M. and B.B. acknowledge support from St. Leonard's European Inter-University Doctoral Scholarship of the University of St. Andrews. P.R. acknowledges financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) within the framework of Germany's Excellence Strategy – EXC-2123 QuantumFrontiers – 390837967.

Commentary :

16 pages, 9 figures. Published version

Available on ORBilu :

since 21 November 2023

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