Probing the topological band structure of diffusive multiterminal Josephson junction devices with conductance measurements

Abstract

The energy of an Andreev bound state in a clean normal metal in contact with two superconductors disperses with the difference $\Delta \phi$ in the superconducting phase between the superconductors in much the same way as the energies of electrons in a one-dimensional crystal disperse with the crystal momentum $k$ of the electrons. A normal metal with $n$ superconductors maps on to a $n-1$ dimensional crystal, each dimension corresponding to the phase difference $\phi_i$ between a specific pair of superconductors. The resulting band structure as a function of the phase differences $\{\Delta \phi_i\}$ has been proposed to have a topological nature, with gapped regions characterized by different Chern numbers separated by regions where the gap in the quasiparticle spectrum closes. A similar complex evolution of the quasiparticle spectrum with $\{\Delta \phi_i\}$ has also been predicted for diffusive normal metals in contact with multiple superconductors. Here we show that the variation of the density of states at the Fermi energy of such a system can be directly probed by relatively simple conductance measurements, allowing rapid characterization of the energy spectrum.