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Mesoscale and Nanoscale PhysicsEnglishPublished

Gate‑tunable quantum point contact in bilayer graphene shows strong Andreev reflection

November 3, 2026arXiv: 2610.41915v1

Scientists have built a narrow constriction in bilayer graphene that can be turned into different numbers of transport channels by adjusting a gate voltage. When the device is cooled below the critical temperature of a nearby aluminium electrode, the conductance through the constriction grows inside a small voltage window. The size of the enhancement – up to 1.4 times the resistance‐free value – is largest when the gate voltage puts the point contact on a conductance plateau, and it drops between plateaus. From the width of the conductance window, which extends about 140 µeV, the researchers infer a proximity‑induced superconducting gap of similar size to that of the aluminium film (≈155 µeV). The data also reveal that the enhancement survives in magnetic fields that are parallel to the graphene plane up to the aluminium critical field, whereas it is weakened almost linearly by perpendicular fields, suggesting vortex entry in the aluminium film. These results demonstrate that mode‑dependent Andreev reflection can be probed with a gate‑controlled graphene constriction and that the induced superconductivity is robust in high‑field geometries, a key step toward graphene‑based superconducting devices.

Figure 3 displays smooth conductance maps with a conductance enhancement around zero bias that narrows into plateaus, and a plot of effective transmission rising to about 0.9 across gate voltages.
Figure 3. Differential conductance versus bias and gate voltage, showing an Andreev‑enhanced window of ≈140 µeV on conductance plateaus and an effective transmission probability τeff up to 0.9.Horgan, Emma, Aichner, Bernd, Omar, Nadine, Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Banszerus, Luca · arXiv:2610.41915v1 · Figure 3: · CC BY 4.0

Figure 3 illustrates the conductance enhancement across gate‑controlled plateaus and shows the effective transmission probability reaching 0.9. Figure 4 displays the magnetic‑field dependence of the enhanced conductance for both in‑plane and out‑of‑plane fields, highlighting the linear suppression in the perpendicular case.

Figure 4 shows conductance maps that shrink with increasing perpendicular magnetic field, with a linear cut through zero bias highlighting the suppression of Andreev reflection.
Figure 4. Magnetic‑field dependence of Andreev‑enhanced conductance for in‑plane and out‑of‑plane fields, illustrating a linear decrease of the enhancement in perpendicular fields.Horgan, Emma, Aichner, Bernd, Omar, Nadine, Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Banszerus, Luca · arXiv:2610.41915v1 · Figure 4: · CC BY 4.0

Source paper

Andreev-Enhanced Conductance in a Bilayer Graphene Quantum Point Contact

Mesoscale and Nanoscale PhysicsSuperconductivity
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Gate‑tunable quantum point contact in bilayer graphene shows strong Andreev reflection | arXiv News