Spectroscopic signatures of the Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in the conductance characteristics of a normal-metal/superconductor junction

Qinghong Cui; C.-R. Hu; J. Y. T. Wei; Kun Yang

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.85.014503

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Spectroscopic signatures of the Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in the conductance characteristics of a normal-metal/superconductor junction

Qinghong Cui, C.-R. Hu, J. Y. T. Wei, Kun Yang

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.85.014503 · Physical Review B

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Abstract

Using a discrete-lattice approach, we calculate the conductance spectra between a normal metal and an s-wave Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) superconductor, with the junction interface oriented along the direction of the order-parameter (OP) modulation. The OP sign reversal across one single nodal line can induce a sizable number of zero-energy Andreev bound states around the nodal line, and a hybridized midgap-states band is formed amid a momentum-dependent gap as a result of the periodic array of nodal lines in the LO state. This band-in-gap structure and its anisotropic properties give rise to distinctive features in both the point-contact and tunneling spectra as compared with the BCS and Fulde-Ferrell cases. These spectroscopic features can serve as distinguishing signatures of the LO state.