We report on the fabrication and characterization of symmetric nanowire-based Josephson junctions, that is, Al- and Nb-based junctions, and asymmetric junctions employing superconducting Al and Nb. In the symmetric junctions, a clear and pronounced Josephson supercurrent is observed. These samples also show clear signatures of subharmonic gap structures. At zero magnetic field, a Josephson coupling is found for the asymmetric Al/InAs-nanowire/Nb junctions as well. By applying a magnetic field above the critical field of Al or by raising the temperature above the critical temperature of Al the junction can be switched to an effective single-interface superconductor/nanowire structure. In this regime, a pronounced zero-bias conductance peak due to reflectionless tunneling has been observed.
Keywords: Andreev reflection; InAs nanowire; Josephson effect; asymmetric junctions; reflectionless tunneling; superconducting electrodes.