The Josephson effect in Fibonacci superconductors

TL;DR

This paper explores how Fibonacci quasicrystals exhibit unique edge modes that influence the Josephson effect, revealing controllable topological phenomena in superconducting systems.

Contribution

It introduces Fibonacci-Andreev bound states and demonstrates their significant impact on Josephson currents in quasiperiodic superconducting junctions.

Findings

Edge modes develop superconducting correlations affecting Josephson current.

Fibonacci sequence arrangement controls edge mode contribution.

Edge modes can dominate the Josephson effect in short junctions.

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the Josephson effect between two proximized Fibonacci quasicrystals. A quasiperiodic modulation of the chemical potential on a superconducting substrate induces topological gaps and edge modes with energies above the superconducting gap. We reveal that these edge modes develop superconducting correlations which significantly impact the Josephson current, and we term them Fibonacci-Andreev bound states. Notably, the contribution from these edge modes can be controlled by the Fibonacci sequence arrangement, known as phason angle, and can dominate the Josephson effect over the conventional subgap Andreev bound states in short junctions. The interplay between the Josephson effect and nontrivial edge modes in quasiperiodic systems presents new opportunities for exploring exotic superconducting phenomena in quasicrystals.