2016/03/31 by Björn Sothmann, Ewelina M. Hankiewicz · 44 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Andreev reflection #Bound state #Condensed matter physics #Conductance #Graphene research and applications #Josephson effect #Phase (matter) #Physics #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quantum tunnelling #Superconductivity #Thermal conductivity #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Topological insulator #Topology (electrical circuits) #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.94.081407
published in Physical review. B./Physical review. B 94(8) (American Physical Society) · 5 pages, 3 figures + supplemental material, published version
openalex publication_date 2016/08/12 · arxiv created 2016/08/16 · arxiv updated 2016/08/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We demonstrate that phase-dependent heat currents through superconductor-topological insulator Josephson junctions provide a useful tool to probe the existence of topological Andreev bound states, even for multichannel surface states. We predict that in the tunneling regime topological Andreev bound states lead to a minimum of the thermal conductance for a phase difference \ensuremathφ=\ensuremathπ, in clear contrast to a maximum of the thermal conductance at \ensuremathφ=\ensuremathπ that occurs for trivial Andreev bound states in superconductor--normal-metal tunnel junctions. This opens up the possibility that phase-dependent heat transport can distinguish between topologically trivial and nontrivial 4\ensuremathπ modes. Furthermore, we propose a superconducting quantum interference device geometry where phase-dependent heat currents can be measured using available experimental technology.