SELF-CONSISTENT CURRENT-VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF NORMAL-SUPERCONDUCTOR INTERFACES

We study the nonlinear transport properties of NS (normal-superconductor) and NSN structures by means of a self-consistent microscopic description. A nonzero superfluid velocity causes the various quasiparticle channels within the S to open at different voltages. The gap reduction is very sensitive to the details of quasiparticle scattering. At low temperatures, superconductivity, sometimes in a peculiar gapless form, may survive up to voltages much higher that k(B)T(c)/e. The minimum voltage for quasiparticle transmission is shown to decrease strongly with temperature and with the transmittivity of the barrier.