CHARGE QUANTIZATION IN A NORMAL COULOMB ISLAND STRONGLY COUPLED TO A SUPERCONDUCTOR

We study the charge of a small normal island connected by a tunnel jun ction to a superconducting lead. Unlike in the N-I-N case, the steps o f the Coulomb staircase remain sharp even when the conductance of the tunneling barrier exceeds e(2)/h. One can observe the transition from sharp steps to smeared ones by applying a magnetic field to destroy th e superconductivity. [S0031-9007(98)07516-4].