Control of Andreev bound state population and related charge-imbalance effect

Abstract : Motivated by recent experimental research, we study a superconducting constriction subject to a dc and ac phase bias. We consider the processes whereby the ac drive promotes one quasiparticle from an Andreev bound state to a delocalized state outside the superconducting gap. We demonstrate that with these processes one can control the population of the Andreev bound states in the constriction. We stress an interesting charge asymmetry of these processes that may produce a charge imbalance of accumulated quasiparticles, which depends on the phase.