Josephson and proximity effects on the surface of a topological insulator

We investigate Josephson and proximity effects on the surface of a topological insulator on which superconductors and a ferromagnet are deposited. The superconducting regions are described by the conventional BCS Hamiltonian, rather than the superconducting Dirac Hamiltonian. Junction interfaces are assumed to be dirty. We obtain analytical expressions of the Josephson current and the proximity-induced anomalous Green's function on the topological insulator. The dependence of the Josephson effect on the junction length, the temperature, the chemical potential, and the magnetization is discussed. It is also shown that the proximity-induced pairing on the surface of a topological insulator includes even- and odd-frequency triplet pairings as well as a conventional $s$-wave pairing.

Figure 1

Schematic of the model.

Figure 2

Critical Josephson current as a function of $m_z$ for $T/T_C=0.1$, $d/\xi =1$, and $\mu /T_C=100$.

Figure 3

Critical Josephson current as a function of temperature of the system with $m_z=0$ and $\mu /T_C=100$ for (a) $d/\xi =0.1$ and (b) $d/\xi =5$.

Figure 4

Critical Josephson current as a function of the distance between the superconductors $d$ for $m_z=0$, $\mu /T_C=100$, and several temperatures.

Figure 5

Critical Josephson current as a function of the chemical potential $\mu$ for $m_z=0$, $T/T_C=0.1$, and several $d$.