First principles based proximity effect of superconductor-normal metal heterostructures

Abstract

In this paper we study the proximity effect in superconductor-normal metal heterostructures based on first principles calculations with treating the pairing potential as an adjustable parameter. The superconducting order parameter (anomalous density) is obtained from the Green-function by solving the Kohn-Sham-Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations with the Screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method. The results are interpreted for an Au/Nb(0 0 1) system. The layer resolved anomalous spectral function is also obtained which is closely related to the superconducting order parameter. We find that the anomalous spectral function has the fingerprint of the Andreev scattering process and it is connected to the electron-hole ratio of the quasiparticle states. We also show that the proximity effect can be understood via the anomalous spectral function.