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When an electron is incident on a superconductor from a metal, it is reflected as a hole in a process called Andreev reflection. If the metal N is sandwiched between two superconductors S in an SNS junction, multiple Andreev reflections (MARs) occur. We have found that, in SNS junctions with high transparency ([Formula: see text]) based on the Dirac semimetal MoTe 2 , the MAR features are observed with exceptional resolution. By tuning the phase difference [Formula: see text] between the bracketing Al superconductors, we establish that the MARs coexist with a Josephson supercurrent [Formula: see text]. As we vary the junction voltage V , the supercurrent amplitude [Formula: see text] varies in step with the MAR order n , revealing a direct relation between them. Two successive Andreev reflections serve to shuttle a Cooper pair across the junction. If the pair is shuttled coherently, it contributes to [Formula: see text]. The experiment measures the fraction of pairs shuttled coherently vs. V . Surprisingly, superconductivity in MoTe 2 does not affect the MAR features.

A 1D Josephson junction (JJ) loop, doped with a spin-flipper and attached to two thermal reservoirs is shown to operate as a heat engine, or a refrigerator, or a Joule pump or even as a cold pump. When operating as a quantum heat engine, the efficiency of this device exceeds that of some recent Josephson heat engine proposals. Further, as a quantum refrigerator, the coefficient of performance of this device is much higher than previously proposed JJ based refrigerators. In addition, this device can be tuned from engine mode to refrigerator mode or to any other mode, i.e., Joule pump or cold pump by either tuning the temperature of reservoirs, or via the flux enclosed in the JJ loop. In presence of spin flip scattering we can tune our device from engine mode to other operating modes by only changing the enclosed flux in JJ loop without changing the temperatures of the reservoirs. This is potentially an advantage with respect to other proposals. This makes the proposed device much more versatile as regards possible applications., (© 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.)