65 research outputs found
Quantized conductance in a one-dimensional ballistic oxide nanodevice
Electric-field effect control of two-dimensional electron gases (2-DEG) has
enabled the exploration of nanoscale electron quantum transport in
semiconductors. Beyond these classical materials, transition metal-oxide-based
structures have d-electronic states favoring the emergence of novel quantum
orders absent in conventional semiconductors. In this context, the
LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface that combines gate-tunable superconductivity and
sizeable spin-orbit coupling is emerging as a promising platform to realize
topological superconductivity. However, the fabrication of nanodevices in which
the electronic properties of this oxide interface can be controlled at the
nanoscale by field-effect remains a scientific and technological challenge.
Here, we demonstrate the quantization of conductance in a ballistic quantum
point contact (QPC), formed by electrostatic confinement of the LaAlO3/SrTiO3
2-DEG with a split-gate. Through finite source-drain voltage, we perform a
comprehensive spectroscopic investigation of the 3d energy levels inside the
QPC, which can be regarded as a spectrometer able to probe Majorana states in
an oxide 2-DEG
Field-effect control of superconductivity and Rashba spin-orbit coupling in top-gated LaAlO3/SrTiO3 devices
The recent development in the fabrication of artificial oxide
heterostructures opens new avenues in the field of quantum materials by
enabling the manipulation of the charge, spin and orbital degrees of freedom.
In this context, the discovery of two-dimensional electron gases (2-DEGs) at
LAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces, which exhibit both superconductivity and strong Rashba
spin-orbit coupling (SOC), represents a major breakthrough. Here, we report on
the realisation of a field-effect LaAlO3/SrTiO3 device, whose physical
properties, including superconductivity and SOC, can be tuned over a wide range
by a top-gate voltage. We derive a phase diagram, which emphasises a
field-effect-induced superconductor-to-insulator quantum phase transition.
Magneto-transport measurements indicate that the Rashba coupling constant
increases linearly with electrostatic doping. Our results pave the way for the
realisation of mesoscopic devices, where these two properties can be
manipulated on a local scale by means of top-gates
Phase Separation and the Phase Diagram in Cuprates Superconductors
We show that the main features of the cuprates superconductors phase diagram
can be derived considering the disorder as a key property of these materials.
Our basic point is that the high pseudogap line is an onset of phase separation
which generates compounds made up of regions with distinct doping levels. We
calculate how this continuous temperature dependent phase separation process
occurs in high critical temperature superconductors (HTSC) using the
Cahn-Hilliard approach, originally applied to study alloys. Since the level of
phase separation varies for different cuprates, it is possible that different
systems with average doping level pm exhibit different degrees of charge and
spin segregation. Calculations on inhomogeneous charge distributions in form of
stripes in finite clusters performed by the Bogoliubov-deGennes superconducting
approach yield good agreement to the pseudogap temperature T*(pm), the onset of
local pairing amplitudes with phase locked and concomitantly, how they develop
at low temperatures into the superconducting phase at Tc(pm) by percolation.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Competition between electron pairing and phase coherence in superconducting interfaces
In LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures, a gate tunable superconducting electron gas is confined in a quantum well at the interface between two insulating oxides. Remarkably, the gas coexists with both magnetism and strong Rashba spinâorbit coupling. However, both the origin of superconductivity and the nature of the transition to the normal state over the whole doping range remain elusive. Here we use resonant microwave transport to extract the superfluid stiffness and the superconducting gap energy of the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface as a function of carrier density. We show that the superconducting phase diagram of this system is controlled by the competition between electron pairing and phase coherence. The analysis of the superfluid density reveals that only a very small fraction of the electrons condenses into the superconducting state. We propose that this corresponds to the weak filling of high- energy dxz/dyz bands in the quantum well, more apt to host superconductivity
Phase preserving amplification near the quantum limit with a Josephson Ring Modulator
Recent progress in solid state quantum information processing has stimulated
the search for ultra-low-noise amplifiers and frequency converters in the
microwave frequency range, which could attain the ultimate limit imposed by
quantum mechanics. In this article, we report the first realization of an
intrinsically phase-preserving, non-degenerate superconducting parametric
amplifier, a so far missing component. It is based on the Josephson ring
modulator, which consists of four junctions in a Wheatstone bridge
configuration. The device symmetry greatly enhances the purity of the
amplification process and simplifies both its operation and analysis. The
measured characteristics of the amplifier in terms of gain and bandwidth are in
good agreement with analytical predictions. Using a newly developed noise
source, we also show that our device operates within a factor of three of the
quantum limit. This development opens new applications in the area of quantum
analog signal processing
Proposal for generating and detecting multi-qubit GHZ states in circuit QED
We propose methods for the preparation and entanglement detection of
multi-qubit GHZ states in circuit quantum electrodynamics. Using quantum
trajectory simulations appropriate for the situation of a weak continuous
measurement, we show that the joint dispersive readout of several qubits can be
utilized for the probabilistic production of high-fidelity GHZ states. When
employing a nonlinear filter on the recorded homodyne signal, the selected
states are found to exhibit values of the Bell-Mermin operator exceeding 2
under realistic conditions. We discuss the potential of the dispersive readout
to demonstrate a violation of the Mermin bound, and present a measurement
scheme avoiding the necessity for full detector tomography.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Microwave losses of bulk CaC6
We report a study of the temperature dependence of the surface resistance RS
in the graphite intercalated compound (GIC) CaC6, where superconductivity at
11.5 K was recently discovered. Experiments are carried out using a copper
dielectrically loaded cavity operating at 7 GHz in a "hot finger"
configuration. Bulk CaC6 samples have been synthesized from highly oriented
pyrolytic graphite. Microwave data allows to extract unique information on the
quasiparticle density and on the nature of pairing in superconductors. The
analysis of RS(T) confirms our recent experimental findings that CaC6 behaves
as a weakly-coupled, fully gapped, superconductor.Comment: 2 pages, submitted to Physica C (M2S-HTSC 2006 Proceedings
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