Andreev Reflection in the Quantum Hall Regime at an Al/InAs Junction on a Cleaved Edge

Abstract

We have fabricated a superconductor/semiconductor (S/Sm) junction composed of Al and InAs using cleaved edge overgrowth. By exploiting the unique geometry with a thin Al/Pt/Al trilayer formed on the side surface of an in-situ cleaved heterostructure wafer containing an InAs quantum well, we achieve a superconducting critical field of 5 T, allowing superconductivity and quantum Hall (QH) effects to coexist down to Landau-level filling factor nu = 3. Andreev reflection at zero magnetic field shows a conductance enhancement that is limited solely by the Fermi velocity mismatch, demonstrating a virtually barrier-free, high-quality S/Sm junction. Bias spectroscopy in the QH regime reveals the opening of a superconducting gap, with the reduced downstream resistance demonstrating that the electron-hole Andreev conversion probability consistently exceeds 50%. Our results, obtained in a new experimental regime characterized by a clean edge-contacted junction with a superconducting electrode narrower than the coherence length, open new avenues for both theoretical and experimental studies of the interplay between superconductivity and QH effects and the engineering of exotic quasiparticles.