Andreev Reflections in NbN/Graphene Junctions under Large Magnetic Fields

Nano Lett. 2021 Oct 13;21(19):8229-8235. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02020. Epub 2021 Sep 27.

Abstract

Hybrid superconductor/graphene (SC/g) junctions are excellent candidates for investigating correlations between Cooper pairs and quantum Hall (QH) edge modes. Experimental studies are challenging as Andreev reflections are extremely sensitive to junction disorder, and high magnetic fields are required to form QH edge states. We fabricated low-resistance SC/g interfaces, composed of graphene edge contacted with NbN with a barrier strength of Z ≈ 0.4, that remain superconducting under magnetic fields larger than 18 T. We establish the role of graphene's Dirac band structure on zero-field Andreev reflections and demonstrate dynamic tunability of the Andreev reflection spectrum by moving the boundary between specular and retro Andreev reflections with parallel magnetic fields. Through the application of perpendicular magnetic fields, we observe an oscillatory suppression of the 2-probe conductance in the ν = 4 Landau level attributed to the reduced efficiency of Andreev processes at the NbN/g interface, consistent with theoretical predictions.

Keywords: Andreev reflection; Zeeman splitting; graphene; niobium nitride; quantum Hall effect; superconductivity; two-dimensional; van der Waals.