Unconventional Pairing Induced Anomalous Transverse Shift in Andreev Reflection

Zhi-Ming Yu; Ying Liu; Yugui Yao; Shengyuan A. Yang

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.176602

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Unconventional Pairing Induced Anomalous Transverse Shift in Andreev Reflection

Zhi-Ming Yu, Ying Liu, Yugui Yao, Shengyuan A. Yang

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.176602 · Physical Review Letters

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Abstract

Superconductors with unconventional pairings have been a fascinating subject of research, for which a central issue is to explore effects that can be used to characterize the pairing. The process of Andreev reflection—the reflection of an electron as a hole at a normal-metal–superconductor interface—offers a basic mechanism to probe the pairing. Here we predict that in Andreev reflection from unconventional superconductors, the reflected hole acquires an anomalous spatial shift normal to the plane of incidence, arising from the unconventional pairing. The transverse shift is sensitive to the superconducting gap structure, exhibiting characteristic features for each pairing type, and can be detected as voltage signals. Our work not only unveils a fundamentally new effect with a novel underlying mechanism, but also suggests a possible new technique capable of probing the structure of unconventional pairings.