Full range of proximity effect probed with superconductor/graphene/superconductor junctions

Abstract

The high tunability of the density of states of graphene makes it an ideal probe of quantum transport in different regimes. In particular, the supercurrent that can flow through a non-superconducting (N) material connected to two superconducting electrodes, crucially depends on the lenghth of the N relative to the superconducting coherence length. Using graphene as the N material we have investigated the full range of the superconducting proximity effect, from short to long diffusive junctions. By combining several S/graphene/S samples with different contacts and lengths, and measuring their gate-dependent critical currents ($ I_c $) and normal state resistance $ R_N $, we compare the product $eR_NI_c$ to the relevant energies, the Thouless energy in long junctions and the superconducting gap of the contacts in short junctions, over three orders of magnitude of Thouless energy. The experimental variations strikingly follow a universal law, close to the predictions of the proximity effect both in the long and short junction regime, as well as in the crossover region, thereby revealing the interplay of the different energy scales. Differences in the numerical coefficients reveal the crucial role played by the interfacial barrier between graphene and the superconducting electrodes, which reduces the supercurrent in both short and long junctions. Surprisingly the reduction of supercurrent is independent of the gate voltage and of the nature of the electrodes. A reduced induced gap and Thouless energy are extracted, revealing the role played by the dwell time in the barrier in the short junction, and an effective increased diffusion time in the long junction. We compare our results to the theoretical predictions of Usadel equations and numerical simulations which better reproduce experiments with imperfect NS interfaces.