Vt. Petrashov et al., THERMAL EFFECT IN THE PHASE-PERIODIC CONDUCTANCE OF DISORDERED MESOSCOPIC N S STRUCTURES/, JETP letters, 64(11), 1996, pp. 839-844
We report measurements of the temperature dependence of the amplitude
of phase-periodic conductance oscillations in disordered (diffusive) n
ormal metal (Ag) structures attached to a superconducting (Pb) wire at
two points. The oscillation amplitude exceeds the value of e(2)/h by
orders of magnitude and reaches its maximum at a temperature correspon
ding to the Thouless energy. The results support the recent theory of
Nazarov and Stoof, [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 823 (1996)], which takes into
account the characteristic energy dependence of the change in the dif
fusion coefficient of quasiparticles in a normal conductor due to Andr
eev reflections. The line shape of the oscillations as a function of t
he superconducting phase difference is found to be extremely sensitive
to the quality of N/S interfaces and shows hysteretic behavior in int
erferometers with specially prepared clean interfaces. (C) 1996 Americ
an Institute of Physics.