# Excitation spectrum of Andreev billiards with a mixed phase space

## Abstract

We present a semiclassical theory for the excitation spectrum of a ballistic quantum dot weakly coupled to a superconductor, for the generic situation that the classical motion gives rise to a phase space containing islands of regularity in a chaotic sea. The density of low-energy excitations is determined by quantum energy scales that are related in a simple way to the morphology of the mixed phase space. An exact quantum mechanical computation for the annular billiard shows good agreement with the semiclassical predictions, in particular for the reduction of the excitation gap when the coupling to the regular regions is maximal.

PACS numbers: 74.50.+r, 03.65.Sq, 05.45.+b, 74.80.Fp

The spectral statistics of quantum systems is intimately related to the nature of the corresponding classical dynamics . Two celebrated examples are that chaoticity of the classical dynamics is reflected in the quantum realm by level repulsion while integrability causes level clustering . Recently, confined two-dimensional electron gases (quantum dots) coupled to a superconductor via a ballistic point contact have become a new arena for the study of quantum-classical correspondences . Such systems are commonly called Andreev billiards , because of the alternation of ballistic motion (as in a conventional billiard) with Andreev reflection  at the interface with the superconductor. The proximity of the superconductor causes a depletion of excited states at low energies (proximity effect). It was found  that a chaotic Andreev billiard has an excitation gap of the order of the Thouless energy, while an integrable Andreev billiard has no true gap but an approximately linearly vanishing density of states. (The Thouless energy $`E_T=g\delta /4\pi `$ is the product of the point contact conductance $`g`$, in units of $`2e^2/h`$, and the mean level spacing $`\delta `$ of the isolated billiard.)

Both chaotic and integrable dynamics are atypical. The generic situation is a mixed phase space, with “islands” of regularity separated from chaotic “seas” by impenetrable dynamical barriers. A generally applicable theory for the proximity effect in ballistic systems should address the case of a mixed phase space. In this paper we present such a theory.

In a semiclassical approach we link the excitation spectrum quantitatively and qualitatively to the morphology of non-communicating regions in phase space. Different regions exhibit greatly varying length scales, which also depend sensitively on the position of the point contact. Still, we find that a general relation exists (in terms of effective Thouless energies) between these classical length scales and the corresponding quantum energy scales. The results for integrable and fully chaotic motion are recovered as special cases. For the mixed phase space our main finding is a reduction of the excitation gap below the value $`E_T`$ of fully chaotic systems. The reduction can be an order of magnitude, as we illustrate by a numerical calculation in the annular billiard  shown in Fig. 1.

We consider a two-dimensional ballistic region (a “billiard”) of area $`A`$ (mean level spacing $`\delta =2\pi \mathrm{}^2/mA`$) that is connected to a superconductor by an opening of width $`W`$ (corresponding to a dimensionless conductance $`g=2W/\lambda _F`$, where $`\lambda _F`$ is the Fermi wavelength). Classical trajectories consist of straight lines inside the billiard, with specular reflections at the boundaries and retro-reflections ($`=`$ Andreev reflections) at the interface with the superconductor. We assume that $`\delta E_T\mathrm{\Delta }`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the excitation gap in the bulk superconductor. The first condition, $`\delta E_T`$ or $`W\lambda _F`$, is required for a semiclassical treatment. The second condition, $`E_T\mathrm{\Delta }`$, ensures that the excitation spectrum becomes independent of the properties of the superconductor.

The Andreev billiard has a discrete spectrum for $`\epsilon <\mathrm{\Delta }`$. (The excitation energy $`\epsilon >0`$ is measured with respect to the Fermi energy. We count each spin-degenerate level once.) For $`\epsilon \mathrm{\Delta }`$ the semiclassical expression for the density of states $`\rho (\epsilon )`$ reads 

$$\rho (\epsilon )=\frac{2}{\delta }_0^{\mathrm{}}dLP(L)\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\delta \left(\frac{\epsilon }{2\pi E_T}\left(n+\frac{1}{2}\right)\frac{L_T}{L}\right),$$
(1)   
with $`P(L)`$ the distribution of path lengths between subsequent Andreev reflections. The distribution $`P(L)`$ is normalised to unity and based on a measure $`\mathrm{d}s\mathrm{d}\mathrm{sin}\alpha `$ for the initial conditions at the interface with the superconductor (see Fig. 1). The length scale $`L_T\mathrm{}v_F/2E_T`$ (with $`v_F`$ the Fermi velocity) is determined by the geometry of the billiard by $`L_T=\pi A/W`$ and is therefore purely classical. Eq. (1) follows directly from the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantisation rule . The derivation of Lodder and Nazarov  starts from the Eilenberger equation  for the quasiclassical Green function and arrives at an expression for $`\rho (\epsilon )`$ that is mathematically equivalent to Eq. (1).

Return probabilities like $`P(L)`$ and the related decay of classical correlations have been addressed in many studies . In a chaotic billiard, $`L_T`$ is the mean path length and $`P(L)\mathrm{exp}(L/L_T)`$ is an exponential distribution. Eq. (1) then gives the density of states

$$\rho (\epsilon )=\frac{2x^2}{\delta }\frac{\mathrm{cosh}x}{\mathrm{sinh}^2x},x=\frac{\pi E_T}{\epsilon },$$
(2)   
which drops from $`2/\delta `$ (the factor of two arises because both electron and hole excitations contribute at positive $`\epsilon `$) to exponentially small values as $`\epsilon `$ drops below $`0.5E_T`$. Eq. (2) is close to the exact quantum mechanical result , which has $`\rho 0`$ for $`\epsilon 0.6E_T`$. For integrable motion $`P(L)`$ decays algebraically $`L^p`$ with $`p`$ close to 3. Eq. (1) then gives $`\rho (\epsilon )\epsilon ^{p2}`$, hence an approximately linearly vanishing density of states. Numerical studies on the circular and rectangular billiard confirm the validity of the semiclassical approach .

The semiclassical expression (1) holds also for mixed dynamics. It allows to regard each non-communicating region in phase space as a distinct system, to be labelled by an index $`i`$. It is helpful to rewrite Eq. (1) in terms of an effective level spacing $`\delta _i`$ and Thouless energy $`E_{T,i}\mathrm{}v_F/2L_{T,i}`$ for each of these regions. (This approach extends the Berry-Robnik conjecture  to open systems.) We decompose $`\rho =_i\rho _i`$ into partial densities of states $`\rho _i`$, defined by

$$\rho _i(\epsilon )=\frac{2}{\delta _i}_0^{\mathrm{}}dLP_i(L)\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\delta \left(\frac{\epsilon }{2\pi E_{T,i}}\left(n+\frac{1}{2}\right)\frac{L_{T,i}}{L}\right).$$
(3)   
The distribution $`P_i(L)`$ (still normalised to unity) now pertains to initial conditions (still with measure $`\mathrm{d}s\mathrm{d}\mathrm{sin}\alpha `$) on the interface with the superconductor that evolve into the $`i`$-th region of phase space. On the scale $`L_{T,i}`$, the distribution $`P_i(L)`$ decays exponentially for chaotic parts of phase space while algebraic decay is found for regular regions . In each case the partial density of states $`\rho _i`$ rises to a value $`2/\delta _i`$ on an energy scale $`E_{T,i}`$, but while $`\rho _i`$ has an excitation gap for the chaotic regions it rises linearly for the regular regions. Eq. (3) applies to those regions that are accessible for a given location of the interface. We call these “connected” regions. The other “disconnected” regions (usually some of the regular islands) do not feel the proximity of the superconductor and give a constant background contribution $`\rho _i(\epsilon )=2/\delta _i`$ in the semiclassical approximation.

Two phase space measures $`O_i`$ and $`V_i`$ determine the mean length $`L_{T,i}=V_i/O_i`$ between Andreev reflections, the effective level spacing $`\delta _i=(2\pi \mathrm{})^2/mV_i`$, and the effective Thouless energy $`E_{T,i}=\mathrm{}v_F/2L_{T,i}=g_i\delta _i/4\pi `$, where $`g_i=O_i/\lambda _F`$ is the effective dimensionless conductance. The first is the area $`O_i`$ that the region overlaps with the superconducting interface on the Poincaré map (see Fig. 2). It is a measure of the coupling strength of a region to the superconductor. The second is the volume $`V_i`$ that the region fills out in the full phase space $`(𝐫,\varphi )`$, where the coordinate $`𝐫`$ extends over the area of the billiard and $`\varphi [0,2\pi )`$ is the direction of momentum.

The phase space that is explored from the point contact can also be parameterised by the variables $`s`$, $`\mathrm{sin}\alpha `$ on the interface and a coordinate $`l`$ along the trajectory. The identification of $`L_{T,i}=V_i/O_i`$ as the mean path length in region $`i`$ is a consequence of $`\mathrm{d}s\mathrm{d}\mathrm{sin}\alpha \mathrm{d}l=\mathrm{d}𝐫\mathrm{d}\varphi `$. The mean length of all trajectories $`LdLLP(L)=_{i}^{}{}_{}{}^{}O_iL_{T,i}/2W=_{i}^{}{}_{}{}^{}V_i/2W`$ can be used to determine the total phase space volume $`V_{\mathrm{con}}_{i}^{}{}_{}{}^{}V_i=2WL`$ that is connected to the interface with the superconductor. Here the prime denotes restriction of the sum to connected regions, and we used the sum rule $`_{i}^{}{}_{}{}^{}O_i=2W`$. The volume $`V_{\mathrm{dis}}`$ of the disconnected regions (which determines the background contribution to $`\rho `$) follows from the sum rule $`_iV_i=V_{\mathrm{con}}+V_{\mathrm{dis}}=2\pi A`$.

Since typically the smallest $`E_{T,i}E_T`$, the total density of states $`\rho =_i\rho _i`$ has a reduced excitation gap. This is especially the case when one couples maximally to the regular regions. Then their contribution to $`\rho `$ at small $`\epsilon `$ (long path lengths) is minimal, and the gap is substantially reduced due to long chaotic trajectories. The constant background and the linear increase from regular regions dominates when the coupling is mainly to the chaotic parts of phase space.

The preceding paragraph summarises the key finding of our work. We illustrate it now for the annular billiard of Fig. 1. The Poincaré map in Fig. 2 shows three main regions , one with chaotic motion (1) and two with regular motion (2 and 3). The regular island 2 corresponds to orbits that bounce back and forth between the two circles where their distance is largest. It has a short stable periodic orbit in its centre. Region 3 is integrable and consists of skipping orbits (trajectories that do not hit the inner circle, so that their angular momentum $`\mathrm{sin}\alpha `$ is conserved).

The regular regions couple maximally to the point contact when it is located at the short stable periodic orbit, as in Fig. 1 (location $`s=\pi `$). We have computed $`P(L)`$ by following trajectories and obtained $`\rho (\epsilon )`$ from Eq. (1). The result is shown in Fig. 3 (solid curve). We see an excitation gap which is about a factor of 4 smaller than in the fully chaotic case \[Eq. (2), dashed curve\]. The reduction originates from long chaotic trajectories with mean length $`L_{T,1}4L_T`$, hence $`E_{T,1}E_T/4`$. An exact quantum mechanical calculation  (histogram) confirms the low-$`\epsilon `$ behaviour found semiclassically. The sharp peaks at higher $`\epsilon `$ in the semiclassical prediction, which arise from families of regular trajectories of almost identical length, are not resolved in the histogram. This is not a surprise since numerically accessible Fermi wavelengths are still larger than the extension of the families.

The regular island is disconnected from the superconductor when the point contact is moved to the other end of the billiard (at $`s=0`$, where the separation of the circles is smallest). The gap in the chaotic partial density of states is reduced to a lesser degree than before, see Fig. 4(a). Excitations localised in the regular island give a constant background contribution $`2/\delta _2=2mV_2/(2\pi \mathrm{})^2`$. If the point contact is placed between these two extreme positions (at $`s=1`$), the regular regions of phase space dominate the low-energy behaviour of $`\rho (\epsilon )`$. Instead of an excitation gap we observe a smoothly and slowly increasing density of states, see Fig. 4(b). The histograms in Fig. 4 fall systematically below the semiclassical prediction. We attribute this discrepancy to the constant background contribution in the semiclassical result, which should vanish at small $`\epsilon `$ because of quantum mechanical tunnelling through the dynamical barrier between regions 1 and 2. This source of error is absent in Fig. 3, because there all regions are directly coupled to the superconductor.

In summary, we have found that the superconductor proximity effect in ballistic systems depends sensitively on the morphology of the classical phase space. The excitation spectrum at low energies can be described in an intuitively appealing way by means of effective Thouless energies and level spacings for the regular and chaotic regions of phase space. If the coupling to the regular regions is maximal, the excitation spectrum exhibits an excitation gap that is much smaller than the gap of a fully chaotic system. Measurement of such a reduced gap would provide a unique insight into the effect of a mixed classical phase space on superconductivity.

This work was supported by the European Community (Program for the Training and Mobility of Researchers) and by the Dutch Science Foundation NWO/FOM.