TRANSMISSION FORMALISM FOR SUPERCURRENT FLOW IN MULTIPROBE SUPERCONDUCTOR-SEMICONDUCTOR-SUPERCONDUCTOR DEVICES

A theoretical study is given of supercurrent flow in a one-dimensional semiconductor channel coupled to superconductors at both ends. In addition, the channel is coupled to a semiconductor reservoir by means of a junction with variable coupling strength-epsilon. The supercurrent I(phi) is calculated from the phase-coherent propagation of electronlike and holelike excitations emitted by the superconductor reservoirs, together with electron and hole excitations from the semiconductor reservoir. The effect of temperature and epsilon on I(phi) is studied. It is shown that a voltage applied between the semiconductor reservoir and the superconductors modifies the I(phi) relation, even in the limit epsilon --> 0.