Andreev reflection

The Andreev reflection is a form of the dispersion of quasi-particles at the interface between a superconductor and a non-superconducting material. The Andreev reflection was named after the Russian physicist Alexander F. Andreev, in 1964 this physical phenomenon predicted.

Principle

The Andreev reflection is a physical phenomenon of the energy conversion of the lossy transmission in a lossless superconductivity at the boundary between a normal conductor, and a superconductor. Excited electrons with an energy slightly above the so-called Fermi level (E Δ ) be in the form of an electron hole with an energy slightly below the Fermi level (E - Δ ) reflected. At the same time as charge balancing a Cooper pair, a pairwise merger of two electrons is induced to form a unit in the superconductor. The reflected electron hole, which runs back along the original electron path, wearing a the impinging electron opposed spin. The wave function of the hole is reflected to the phase of the incoming electron.

The above process is also reversible, with the result that a transfer of energy from the superconductor under an electron reflection can take place from an electron hole.