Proximity effect in normal metal–multiband superconductor hybrid structures

Abstract

A theory of the proximity effect in normal metal--multiband superconductor hybrid structures is formulated within the quasiclassical Green's function formalism. The quasiclassical boundary conditions for multiband hybrid structures are derived in the dirty limit. It is shown that the existence of multiple superconducting bands manifests itself as the occurrence of additional peaks in the density of states in the structure. The interplay between the proximity effect and the interband coupling influences the magnitudes of the gaps in a superconductor in a nontrivial way and can even give rise to an enhancement of multiband superconductivity by the proximity to a superconductor with a lower transition temperature. The developed theory is applied to the calculation of supercurrent in multiband superconductor--normal metal--superconductor Josephson junctions with low-transparent interfaces, and the results are compared with the predictions for multiband tunnel junctions.