Phase Modulated Thermal Conductance of Josephson Weak Links

Erhai Zhao; Tomas Löfwander; J. A. Sauls

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.077003

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Phase Modulated Thermal Conductance of Josephson Weak Links

Erhai Zhao, Tomas Löfwander, J. A. Sauls

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.077003 · Physical Review Letters

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Abstract

We present a theory for quasiparticle heat transport through superconducting weak links. The thermal conductance depends on the phase difference (ϕ) of the superconducting leads. Branch-conversion processes, low-energy Andreev bound states near the contact, and the suppression of the local density of states near the gap edge are related to phase-sensitive transport processes. Theoretical results for the influence of junction transparency, temperature, and disorder, on the conductance, are reported. For high-transmission weak links, D→1, the formation of an Andreev bound state leads to suppression of the density of states for the continuum excitations, and thus, to a reduction in the conductance for ϕ≃π. For low-transmission (D≪1) barriers resonant scattering leads to an increase in the thermal conductance as T drops below Tc (for phase differences near ϕ=π).