# 1 Normalized conductance 𝑔≡𝐺_NS/𝐺_N as a function of 𝑘_F⁢𝑊'/𝜋 for an ideal interface. The data-point (∘) corresponds to the numerical result (𝑘_F⁢𝑊'/𝜋;𝑔)=(3.2;1.87) of De Raedt et al. [].

Andreev scattering and conductance enhancement in mesoscopic semiconductor–superconductor junctions  Niels Asger Mortensen<sup>1</sup>, Antti-Pekka Jauho<sup>1</sup>, Karsten Flensberg<sup>2</sup>  <sup>1</sup>Mikroelektronik Centret, Technical University of Denmark, Building 345 east, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark   
<sup>2</sup>Ørsted Laboratory, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark 

Quantum transport in hybrid semiconductor–superconductor nanostructures has been shown to exhibit many of the mesoscopic effects known from semiconductor systems , for instance quantized conductance of the quantum point contact (QPC). Due to the Andreev scattering  these effects are modified and the presence of a superconductor (S) opens up for studying new mesoscopic phenomena, such as the quantized critical current in Josephson junctions , but, also leads to a higher understanding of the basic effects found in semiconductor structures.

An inherent difficulty in studying mesoscopic effects in semiconductor–superconductor hybrid structures is the large Schottky barrier which often forms at the interface. A large technological effort has been invested in in improving the contact between the superconductor and the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) of a semiconductor heterostructure, and in recent years this has become possible for e.g. GaAs-Al, GaAs-In, and InAs-Nb junctions. This development motivates quantitative theoretical modeling of sample-specific transport properties. The aim of our work is to model the conducting properties of a ballistic 2DEG-S interfaces with a QPC in the normal region and also to take into account scattering due to a weak Schottky barrier and/or non-matching Fermi properties of the semiconductor and superconductor.

A theoretical framework is provided by the Bogoliubov–de Gennes (BdG) formalism  where the scattering states are eigenfunctions of the BdG equation which is a Schrödinger-like equation in electron-hole space. The scattering approach to phase-coherent dc transport in superconducting hybrids follows closely the scattering theory developed for non-superconducting mesoscopic structures. In zero magnetic field, Beenakker  found that the Andreev approximation and the rigid boundary condition for the pairing potential lead to a linear-response sub-gap conductance given by

$$\frac{G_{\mathrm{NS}}}{2G_0}=\mathrm{Tr}\left(tt^{}\left[\widehat{2}tt^{}\right]^1\right)^2=\underset{n=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{T_n^2}{\left(2T_n\right)^2}$$
(1)   
which, in contrast to the Landauer formula ,

$$\frac{G_\mathrm{N}}{G_0}=\mathrm{Tr}tt^{}=\underset{n=1}{\overset{N}{}}T_n,$$
(2)   
is a non-linear function of the transmission eigenvalues $`T_n`$ ($`n=1,2,\mathrm{},N`$) of $`tt^{}`$. Here $`G_0=2e^2/h`$ and $`t`$ is the $`N\times N`$ transmission matrix of the normal region, $`N`$ being the number of propagating modes. The computational advantage of Eq. (1) over the time-dependent BdG approach of De Raedt *et al.*  is that we only need to consider the time-independent Schrödinger equation with a potential which describes the disorder in the normal region, so that we can use the techniques developed for quantum transport in normal conducting mesoscopic structures.

We study the geometry shown in the inset of Figure 1 and following recent work  we model the QPC by a wide-narrow-wide constriction , the interface scattering by a delta-function potential , and the transverse confinement by a hard-wall confining potential. The scattering due to non-matching Fermi velocities and Fermi momenta of the semiconductor and the superconductor are taken into account by replacing the interface transmission and reflection matrices of Ref.  by

$`\left(t_\delta \right)_{ww^{}}`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{ww^{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\frac{\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta _w)r_v+1\right]^2}{4\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta _w)r_v}}+i\frac{Z\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta _w)}}{\mathrm{cos}\theta _w}}}`$ (3)   
$`\left(r_\delta \right)_{ww^{}}`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{ww^{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\frac{\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta _w)r_v1\right]^2}{4\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta _w)r_v}}i\frac{Z\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta _w)}}{\mathrm{cos}\theta _w}}{\sqrt{\frac{\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta _w)r_v+1\right]^2}{4\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta _w)r_v}}+i\frac{Z\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta _w)}}{\mathrm{cos}\theta _w}}}`$ (4)   
where $`r_vv_\mathrm{F}^{\left(\mathrm{N}\right)}/v_\mathrm{F}^{\left(\mathrm{S}\right)}`$ is the Fermi velocity ratio, $`r_kk_\mathrm{F}^{\left(\mathrm{N}\right)}/k_\mathrm{F}^{\left(\mathrm{S}\right)}`$ is the Fermi momentum ratio, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\theta )\mathrm{cos}\theta /\sqrt{1r_k^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }`$ .

We consider the device of Refs.  with a relative width $`W/W^{}=31.72`$, an aspect ratio $`L_1/W^{}=5/1.6`$, and a relative length $`L_2/W^{}=20/1.6`$. Furthermore we consider a junction between a GaAs 2DEG (in a GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructure) and a superconducting Al film. For $`T_{\mathrm{F},\mathrm{GaAs}}100\mathrm{K}`$, appropriate parameters are given by $`r_v=0.10`$ and $`r_k=0.007`$ .

Figure 1 shows the normalized conductance $`gG_{\mathrm{NS}}/G_\mathrm{N}`$ as a function of $`k_\mathrm{F}W^{}/\pi `$ for an ideal interface. In Figure 2 we show the effect of a finite barrier at an interface with matching Fermi properties. Compared to a similar system without a QPC, see Fig. 2c of Ref. , the normalized conductance is only weakly suppressed for low barrier scattering, $`Z<1`$, and only for a very high barrier strength there is a cross-over from an excess conductance, $`g>1`$, to a deficit conductance, $`g<1`$.

In Figure 3 we show how these results are modified when taking the different Fermi properties into account. The detailed behavior is now changed but the overall weak effect of the non-ideal interface on the normalized conductance is the same. Comparing to a similar system without a QPC, see Fig. 2a of Ref. , the normalized conductance changes from $`g0.2`$ (at $`Z=0`$) to $`g>1.3`$ in the presence of a QPC in the normal region.

In conclusion, the studied effect of a non-ideal interface with a Schottky barrier and non-matching Fermi properties is very similar to the reflectionless tunneling behavior in diffusively disordered junctions  where the net result is as if tunneling through the barrier is reflectionless. In the case of a QPC instead of a diffusive region, the presence of the QPC enhances the normalized conductance even though there is a weak dependence on the barrier strength so that the tunneling is not perfectly reflectionless.