A particle conserving approach to AC-DC driven interacting quantum dots with superconducting leads

TL;DR

This paper develops a particle conserving formalism to analyze AC-DC driven superconducting quantum dot junctions, revealing complex photon-assisted transport phenomena and current inversion effects without breaking U(1) symmetry.

Contribution

It introduces a novel particle conserving approach to study non-equilibrium superconducting quantum dots under microwave drive, capturing coherent Cooper pair transfer and complex current responses.

Findings

Identification of a dynamical phase related to Cooper pair transfer

Discovery of regions with current inversion acting as a quantum pump

Analytical expressions for harmonics of current and dot operator

Abstract

The combined action of a DC bias and a microwave drive on the transport characteristic of a superconductor-quantum dot-superconductor junction is investigated. To cope with time dependent non-equilibrium effects and interactions in the quantum dot, we develop a general formalism for the dynamics of the density operator based on a particle conserving approach to superconductivity. Without invoking a broken U (1) symmetry, we identify a dynamical phase connected to the coherent transfer of Cooper pairs across the junction. In the weak coupling limit, we show that besides quasiparticle transport, proximity induced superconducting correlations manifest in anomalous pair tunneling involving the transfer of a Cooper pair. The resulting generalized master equation in presence of the microwave drive showcases the characteristic bichromatic response due to the combination of the AC Josephson effect and an AC voltage. Analytical expressions for all harmonics in the driving frequency of both the current and the reduced dot operator are given for arbitrary driving strength. For the net DC current the resulting photon assisted processes give rise to rich current-voltage characteristics. In addition to photon assisted subgap transport we find regions of total current inversion in the stability diagram. There, the junction acts as a pump with the net DC current flowing against the applied DC bias. The first harmonic of the current, being closely related to the nonlinear dynamic susceptibility of the junction, is discussed at finite applied DC bias.