A proposed experimental diagnosing of specular Andreev reflection using the spin orbit interaction

Based on the Dirac-Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation, we theoretically investigate the chirality-resolved transport properties through a superconducting heterojunction in the presence of both the Rashba spin orbit interaction (RSOI) and the Dresselhaus spin orbit interaction (DSOI). Our results show that, if only the RSOI is present, the chirality-resolved Andreev tunneling conductance can be enhanced in the superconducting gap, while it always shows a suppression effect for the case of the DSOI alone. In contrast to the similar dependence of the specular Andreev zero bias tunneling conductance on the SOI, the retro-Andreev zero bias tunneling conductance exhibit the distinct dependence on the RSOI and the DSOI. Moreover, the zero-bias tunneling conductances for the retro-Andreev reflection (RAR) and the specular Andreev reflection (SAR) also show a qualitative difference with respect to the barrier parameters. When the RSOI and the DSOI are finite, three orders of magnitude enhancement of specular Andreev tunneling conductance is revealed. Furthermore, by analyzing the balanced SOI case, we find that the RAR is in favor of a parabolic dispersion, but a linear dispersion is highly desired for the SAR. These results shed light on the diagnosing of the SAR in graphene when subjected to both kinds of SOI.