title: Zero-bias anomaly in a nanowire quantum dot coupled to superconductors.
abstract: We studied the low-energy states of spin-1/2 quantum dots defined in InAs/InP nanowires and coupled to aluminum superconducting leads. By varying the superconducting gap Δ with a magnetic field B we investigated the transition from strong coupling Δ << T(K) to weak-coupling Δ >> T(K), where T(K) is the Kondo temperature. Below the critical field, we observe a persisting zero-bias Kondo resonance that vanishes only for low B or higher temperatures, leaving the room to more robust subgap structures at bias voltages between Δ and 2Δ. For strong and approximately symmetric tunnel couplings, a Josephson supercurrent is observed in addition to the Kondo peak. We ascribe the coexistence of a Kondo resonance and a superconducting gap to a significant density of intragap quasiparticle states, and the finite-bias subgap structures to tunneling through Shiba states. Our results, supported by numerical calculations, own relevance also in relation to tunnel-spectroscopy experiments aiming at the observation of Majorana fermions in hybrid nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: SPSMS, CEA-INAC/UJF-Grenoble 1, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Eduardo J H
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Xiaocheng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aguado
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Katsaros
authors.forename: Charles M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lieber
authors.forename: Silvano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Franceschi