https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2007-00059-9
Dephasing of Andreev pairs entering a charge density wave
Institut Néel, CNRS & Université Joseph Fourier, BP 166, 38042 Grenoble Cedex, France
Corresponding author: a regis.melin@grenoble.cnrs.fr
Received:
15
November
2006
Revised:
29
January
2007
Published online:
2
March
2007
A Cooper pair from a s-wave superconductor (S) entering a conventional charge density wave (CDW) below the Peierls gap dephases on the Fermi wavelength while one particle states are localized on the CDW coherence length ξCDW. It is thus practically impossible to observe a Josephson current through a CDW. The paths following different sequences of impurities interfere destructively, due to the different electron and hole densities in the CDW. The same conclusion holds for averaging over the conduction channels in the ballistic system. We apply two microscopic approaches to this phenomenon: (i) a Blonder, Tinkham, Klapwijk (BTK) approach for a single highly transparent S-CDW interface; and (ii) the Hamiltonian approach for the Josephson effect in a clean CDW and a CDW with non magnetic disorder. The Josephson effect through a spin density wave (SDW) is limited by the coherence length ξSDW, not by the Fermi wave-length. A Josephson current through a SDW might be observed in a structure with contacts on a SDW separated by a distance ξSDW.
PACS: 73.23.-b – Electronic transport in mesoscopic systems / 72.15.Nj – Collective modes / 74.45.+c – Proximity effects; Andreev effect; SN and SNS junctions
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2007