Double-gap superconducting proximity effect in nanotubes

Abstract

We theoretically explore the possibility of a superconducting proximity effect in single-walled metallic carbon nanotubes due to the presence of a superconducting substrate. An unconventional double-gap situation can arise in the two bands for nanotubes of large radius wherein the tunneling is (almost) symmetric in the two sublattices. In such a case, a proximity effect can take place in the symmetric band below a critical experimentally-accessible Coulomb interaction strength in the nanotube. Furthermore, due to interactions in the nanotube, the appearance of a BCS gap in this band stabilizes superconductivity in the other band at lower temperatures. We also discuss the scenario of highly asymmetric tunneling and show that this case too supports double-gap superconductivity.