Simple Floquet-Wannier-Stark-Andreev viewpoint and emergence of low-energy scales in a voltage-biased three-terminal Josephson junction

TL;DR

This paper develops a Floquet theory-based physical picture of a voltage-biased three-terminal Josephson junction, revealing the evolution of Andreev bound states into Floquet-Wannier-Stark-Andreev ladders and identifying key low-energy scales affecting relaxation mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a simple Floquet-based framework to understand nonequilibrium states and low-energy scales in three-terminal Josephson junctions, extending the understanding of Andreev states under bias.

Findings

Andreev bound states evolve into Floquet-Wannier-Stark-Andreev ladders at finite voltage.

Resonance widths are influenced by multiple Andreev reflection processes.

Identification of three low-energy scales relevant to relaxation and noise phenomena.

Abstract

A three-terminal Josephson junction consists of three superconductors coupled coherently to a small nonsuperconducting island, such as a diffusive metal, a single or double quantum dot. A specific resonant single quantum dot three-terminal Josephson junction $(S_a,S_b,S_c)$ biased with voltages $(V,-V,0)$ is considered, but the conclusions hold more generally for resonant semi-conducting quantum wire set-ups. A simple physical picture of the steady state is developed, using Floquet theory. It is shown that the equilibrium Andreev bound states (for $V=0$) evolve into nonequilibrium Floquet-Wannier-Stark-Andreev (FWS-Andreev) ladders of resonances (for $V\ne 0$). These resonances acquire a finite width due to multiple Andreev reflection (MAR) processes. We also consider the effect of an extrinsic line-width broadening on the quantum dot, introduced through a Dynes phenomenological parameter. The DC-quartet current manifests a cross-over between the extrinsic relaxation dominated regime at low voltage to an intrinsic relaxation due to MAR processes at higher voltage. Finally, we study the coupling between the two FWS-Andreev ladders due to Landau-Zener-St\"uckelberg transitions, and its effect on the cross-over in the relaxation mechanism. Three important low-energy scales are identified, and a perspective is to relate those low-energy scales to a recent noise cross-correlation experiment [Y. Cohen {\it et al.}, arXiv:1606.08436].