Abstract

We use quasiclassical methods of superconductivity to study the superconducting proximity effect from a topological p-wave superconductor into a disordered quasi-one-dimensional metallic wire. We demonstrate that the corresponding Eilenberger equations with disorder reduce to a closed nonlinear equation for the superconducting component of the matrix Green s function. Remarkably, this equation is formally equivalent to a classical mechanical system (i.e., Newton s equations), with the Green function corresponding to a coordinate of a fictitious particle and the coordinate along the wire corresponding to time. This mapping allows us to obtain exact solutions in the disordered nanowire in terms of elliptic functions. A surprising result that comes out of this solution is that the p-wave superconductivity proximity induced into the disordered metal remains long range, decaying as slowly as the conventional s-wave superconductivity. It is also shown that impurity scattering leads to the appearance of a zero-energy peak.

Publication Details
Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2015
Volume
91
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.91.094518
Journal
Physical Review B
Contributors