Specular Interband Andreev Reflections in Graphene

TL;DR

This paper reports experimental evidence of a transition from retro- to specular Andreev reflections in graphene, achieved by tuning the Fermi energy below the superconducting gap, revealing new quantum transport phenomena at the graphene-superconductor interface.

Contribution

The study provides the first direct measurement of gate-tunable interband Andreev reflections in graphene with a van der Waals superconductor, demonstrating a transition in reflection type.

Findings

Conductance suppression when Fermi energy is below the superconducting gap

Observation of transition from intraband to interband Andreev reflections

Gate-tunable control of Andreev reflection type in graphene-superconductor interface

Abstract

Electrons incident from a normal metal onto a superconductor are reflected back as holes - a process called Andreev reflection. In a normal metal where the Fermi energy is much larger than a typical superconducting gap, the reflected hole retraces the path taken by the incident electron. In graphene with ultra low disorder, however, the Fermi energy can be tuned to be smaller than the superconducting gap. In this unusual limit, the holes are expected to be reflected specularly at the superconductor-graphene interface due to the onset of interband Andreev processes, where the effective mass of the reflected holes change sign. Here we present measurements of gate modulated Andreev reflections across the low disorder van der Waals interface formed between graphene and the superconducting NbSe2. We find that the conductance across the graphene-superconductor interface exhibits a characteristic suppression when the Fermi energy is tuned to values smaller than the superconducting gap, a hallmark for the transition between intraband retro- and interband specular- Andreev reflections.