Proximity-induced Cooper pairing at low and finite energies in the gold Rashba surface state

Multi-band effects in superconducting heterostructures provide a rich playground for unconventional physics. We combine two complementary approaches based on density-functional theory (DFT) and effective low-energy model theory in order to investigate the proximity effect in a gold overlayer on the s-wave superconductor aluminium. We explain both theoretical approaches and intertwine the effective model and DFT analysis. This allows us to predict finite energy superconducting avoided crossings due to the interplay of the Rashba surface state of Au, and hybridization with the electronic structure of superconducting Al. We investigate the nature of the induced superconducting pairing and analyze their mixed singlet-triplet character. Our findings demonstrate the general recipes to explore material systems that exhibit novel finite-energy pairings.

This dataset accompanies a publication where the data is presented and discussed in detail.