Revision of the quasiclassical boundary resistance of the metal/superconductor interface

Abstract

Transparency of the metal/superconductor interface is discussed in a frame of the Kupryanov-Lukichev (K-L) quasiclassical boundary conditions. It is shown that the original K-L boundary transparency is expressed via the single-channel Landauer conductance. It is a source of dramatic discrepancy between the theory and experiments on the superconducting proximity effect. The improved multi-channel derivation is proposed for the boundary conditions, which rehabilitates consistency of the quasiclassical approach to the boundary transparency problem, and eliminates at least an order of magnitude of discrepancy between the theory and the experiment. The influence of the interface roughness and wave function symmetry mismatch at the boundary on the interface transparency is discussed. Warning is made to theories that use the quasiclassical boundary conditions with the interface transparencies close to unity.