Proximity effects in a superconductor-normal metal bilayer system

Abstract

In this letter, we have studied the effects of proximity of a superconductor to a normal metal. The system, represented by a bilayer attractive Hubbard model, is investigated using layer-dynamical mean field theory and iterated perturbation theory for superconductivity as an impurity solver. The bilayer system comprises a superconducting and a normal metallic layer, connected by an inter-planar hopping ($t_\perp$). It is found that superconductivity is induced in the normal layer for small $t_\perp$. With increasing inter-layer hopping, the bilayer system undergoes two transitions: a first order transition to a normal metallic phase, and subsequently a continuous crossover to a band insulator.