Dissipationless Nonlinearity in Quantum Material Josephson Diodes

Dissipationless nonlinearities for three-wave mixing are a key component of many superconducting quantum devices, such as amplifiers and bosonic qubits. So far, such third-order nonlinearities have been primarily achieved with circuits of concatenated Josephson tunnel junctions. In this work, we theoretically develop an alternative approach to realize third-order nonlinearities from gate-tunable and intrinsically symmetry-broken quantum material Josephson junctions. We illustrate this approach on two examples, an Andreev interferometer and a magnetic Josephson junction. Our results show that both setups enable Kerr-free three-wave mixing for a broad range of frequencies, an attribute that is highly desirable for amplifier applications. Moreover, we also find that the magnetic junction constitutes a paradigmatic example for three-wave mixing in a minimal single-junction device without the need for any external biases. We hope that our work will guide the search of dissipationless nonlinearities in quantum material superconducting devices and inspire new ways of characterizing symmetry-breaking in quantum materials with microwave techniques

Double-Fourier engineering of Josephson energy-phase relationships applied to diodes

We present a systematic method to design arbitrary energy-phase relations using parallel arms of two series Josephson tunnel junctions each. Our approach employs Fourier engineering in the energy-phase relation of each arm and the position of the arms in real space. We demonstrate our method by engineering the energy-phase relation of a near-ideal superconducting diode, which we find to be robust against the imperfections in the design parameters. Finally, we show the versatility of our approach by designing various other energy-phase relations.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Tunneling in graphene-topological insulator hybrid devices

Hybrid graphene-topological insulator (TI) devices were fabricated using a mechanical transfer method and studied via electronic transport. Devices consisting of bilayer graphene (BLG) under the TI Bi$_2$Se$_3$ exhibit differential conductance characteristics which appear to be dominated by tunneling, roughly reproducing the Bi$_2$Se$_3$ density of states. Similar results were obtained for BLG on top of Bi$_2$Se$_3$, with 10-fold greater conductance consistent with a larger contact area due to better surface conformity. The devices further show evidence of inelastic phonon-assisted tunneling processes involving both Bi$_2$Se$_3$ and graphene phonons. These processes favor phonons which compensate for momentum mismatch between the TI $\Gamma$ and graphene $K, K'$ points. Finally, the utility of these tunnel junctions is demonstrated on a density-tunable BLG device, where the charge-neutrality point is traced along the energy-density trajectory. This trajectory is used as a measure of the ground-state density of states

Enhanced Superconductivity and Suppression of Charge-density Wave Order in 2H-TaS2_2 in the Two-dimensional Limit

As superconductors are thinned down to the 2D limit, their critical temperature $T_c$ typically decreases. Here we report the opposite behavior, a substantial enhancement of $T_c$ with decreasing thickness, in 2D crystalline superconductor 2H-TaS$_2$. Remarkably, in the monolayer limit, $T_c$ increases to 3.4 K compared to 0.8 K in the bulk. Accompanying this trend in superconductivity, we observe suppression of the charge-density wave (CDW) transition with decreasing thickness. To explain these trends, we perform electronic structure calculations showing that a reduction of the CDW amplitude results in a substantial increase of the density of states at the Fermi energy, which contributes to the enhancement of $T_c$. Our results establish ultra-thin 2H-TaS$_2$ as an ideal platform to study the competition between CDW order and superconductivity

Magnetoresistance and quantum oscillations of an electrostatically tuned semimetal-to-metal transition in ultrathin WTe 2

We report on electronic transport measurements of electrostatically gated nanodevices of the semimetal WTe[subscript 2]. High mobility metallic behavior is achieved in the 2D limit by encapsulating thin flakes in an inert atmosphere. At low temperatures, we find that a large magnetoresistance can be turned on and off by electrostatically doping the system between a semimetallic state and an electron-only metallic state, respectively. We confirm the nature of the two regimes by analyzing the magnetoresistance and Hall effect with a two-carrier model, as well as by analysis of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations, both of which indicate depletion of hole carriers via the electrostatic gate. This confirms that semiclassical transport of two oppositely charged carriers accurately describes the exceptional magnetoresistance observed in this material. Finally, we also find that the magnetoresistance power law is subquadratic and density independent, suggesting new physics specifically in the semimetallic regime.United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Science. Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (Award DE-SC0006418)United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant FA9550-16-1-0382)Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (EPiQS Initiative Grant GBMF4541

Coexistence of nonequilibrium density and equilibrium energy distribution of quasiparticles in a superconducting qubit

The density of quasiparticles typically observed in superconducting qubits exceeds the value expected in equilibrium by many orders of magnitude. Can this out-of-equilibrium quasiparticle density still possess an energy distribution in equilibrium with the phonon bath? Here, we answer this question affirmatively by measuring the thermal activation of charge-parity switching in a transmon qubit with a difference in superconducting gap on the two sides of the Josephson junction. We then demonstrate how the gap asymmetry of the device can be exploited to manipulate its parity.Comment: Updated acknowledgements, corrected typo

Electrostatic Coupling between Two Surfaces of a Topological Insulator Nanodevice

We report on electronic transport measurements of dual-gated nano-devices of the low-carrier density topological insulator Bi1.5Sb0.5Te1.7Se1.3. In all devices the upper and lower surface states are independently tunable to the Dirac point by the top and bottom gate electrodes. In thin devices, electric fields are found to penetrate through the bulk, indicating finite capacitive coupling between the surface states. A charging model allows us to use the penetrating electric field as a measurement of the inter-surface capacitance $C_{TI}$ and the surface state energy-density relationship $\mu$(n), which is found to be consistent with independent ARPES measurements. At high magnetic fields, increased field penetration through the surface states is observed, strongly suggestive of the opening of a surface state band gap due to broken time-reversal symmetry.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Physical Review Letter