title: Microwave control of the superconducting proximity effect and minigap in magnetic and normal metals.
abstract: We demonstrate theoretically that microwave radiation applied to superconducting proximity structures controls the minigap and other spectral features in the density of states of normal and magnetic metals, respectively. Considering both a bilayer and Josephson junction geometry, we show that microwaves with frequency ω qualitatively alters the spectral properties of the system: inducing a series of resonances, controlling the minigap size Emg, and even replacing the minigap with a strong peak of quasiparticle accumulation at zero energy when ω = Emg. The interaction between light and Cooper pairs may thus open a route to active control of quantum coherent phenomena in superconducting proximity structures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Linder
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Morten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amundsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Jabir Ali
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ouassou