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Interfering trajectories in a ballistic Andreev cavity

Pankaj Mandal1,2,*, Marcel Kaschper1,2, Fernando Dominguez3,4, Soumi Mondal1,2, Lukas Lunczer1,2, Dongyun Chen1,2, Martin P. Stehno1,2, Ewelina M. Hankiewicz3,4, Björn Trauzettel3,4 et al.

Teun M. Klapwijk1,5, Charles Gould1,2,†, and Laurens W. Molenkamp1,2,‡

  • 1Faculty for Physics and Astronomy (EP3), Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany
  • 2Institute for Topological Insulators, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany
  • 3Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, Universität Würzburg, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany
  • 4Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Würzburg, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany
  • 5Retired at Kavli Institute of NanoScience, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, NL-2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands

  • *Contact author: pankaj.mandal@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de
  • †Contact author: gould@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de
  • ‡Contact author: molenkamp@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de

Phys. Rev. B 113, 104517 – Published 20 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hls3-jqzj

Abstract

The conventional description of transport through the interface between a normal conductor and a superconductor reduces the system to a one-dimensional problem treating Andreev reflection based on a zero-dimensional Sharvin-type point-contact model, and effectively neglects all considerations of device geometry. While this has been successful in systems where conductance in the normal material is in the diffusive transport regime, such an oversimplification of the problem fails in other transport regimes. In particular, when transport is ballistic as in a typical semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structure, geometrical effects are inherently important, and a proper description must consider a one-dimensional contact injecting into a two-dimensional ballistic cavity. We present a study of this regime and explore the bias-voltage dependence of Andreev transport in a cavity-type device comprised of a high-mobility HgTe quantum well side-contacted by one superconducting and one normal contact, each creating a one-dimensional interface. The enhanced conductance from Andreev transport features two finite-bias conductance peaks, observed at energies within the energy gap of the superconductor. Interestingly, these two peaks respond differently to the application of a perpendicular-to-plane magnetic field. Using a semiclassical model for the quantum transport within the cavity, we are able to attribute each peak to a different class of ballistic trajectories. One class is dominated by normal reflection, and its interference condition is independent of magnetic field, whereas the other one contains retroreflected Andreev processes at the superconductor interface. These create closed trajectories that are strongly suppressed by magnetic field due to Aharonov-Bohm and Doppler shift effects.

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