Josephson tunneling controlled by spin-orbit interaction

Abstract

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of point-contact spectroscopy, we review and extend some of our recent studies on the effects of spin-orbit interactions located at an electric point contact connecting two bulk superconductors. In particular, we study the effects on the Josephson tunneling of Cooper pairs between the superconductors. We demonstrate that such tunneling forces the electronic spin to fluctuate quantum mechanically, transforming a BCS condensate into a quantum superposition of singlet and triplet pairs. The relative prevalence of those pairs can be controlled electrostatically and mechanically. The singlet pairs contribute to the Josephson charge current flowing through the point contact but not to the Josephson spin current injected into the superconductors. The spin-polarized pairs contribute to the injected Josephson spin current but not to the superconducting charge flow. These results allow for new functionalities of spin-active Josephson junctions.