20 research outputs found
Spin transport in ferromagnet-InSb nanowire quantum devices
Signatures of Majorana zero modes (MZMs), which are the building blocks for
fault-tolerant topological quantum computing, have been observed in
semiconductor nanowires (NW) with strong spin-orbital-interaction (SOI), such
as InSb and InAs NWs with proximity-induced superconductivity. Realizing
topological superconductivity and MZMs in this most widely-studied platform
also requires eliminating spin degeneracy, which is realized by applying a
magnetic field to induce a helical gap. However, the applied field can
adversely impact the induced superconducting state in the NWs and also places
geometric restrictions on the device, which can affect scaling of future
MZM-based quantum registers. These challenges could be circumvented by
integrating magnetic elements with the NWs. With this motivation, in this work
we report the first experimental investigation of spin transport across InSb
NWs, which are enabled by devices with ferromagnetic (FM) contacts. We observe
signatures of spin polarization and spin-dependent transport in the
quasi-one-dimensional ballistic regime. Moreover, we show that electrostatic
gating tunes the observed magnetic signal and also reveals a transport regime
where the device acts as a spin filter. These results open an avenue towards
developing MZM devices in which spin degeneracy is lifted locally, without the
need of an applied magnetic field. They also provide a path for realizing
spin-based devices that leverage spin-orbital states in quantum wires.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figure
Electric field tunable superconductor-semiconductor coupling in Majorana nanowires
We study the effect of external electric fields on
superconductor-semiconductor coupling by measuring the electron transport in
InSb semiconductor nanowires coupled to an epitaxially grown Al superconductor.
We find that the gate voltage induced electric fields can greatly modify the
coupling strength, which has consequences for the proximity induced
superconducting gap, effective g-factor, and spin-orbit coupling, which all
play a key role in understanding Majorana physics. We further show that level
repulsion due to spin-orbit coupling in a finite size system can lead to
seemingly stable zero bias conductance peaks, which mimic the behavior of
Majorana zero modes. Our results improve the understanding of realistic
Majorana nanowire systems.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, supplemental information as ancillary fil
Quantized Majorana conductance
Majorana zero-modes hold great promise for topological quantum computing.
Tunnelling spectroscopy in electrical transport is the primary tool to identify
the presence of Majorana zero-modes, for instance as a zero-bias peak (ZBP) in
differential-conductance. The Majorana ZBP-height is predicted to be quantized
at the universal conductance value of 2e2/h at zero temperature. Interestingly,
this quantization is a direct consequence of the famous Majorana symmetry,
'particle equals antiparticle'. The Majorana symmetry protects the quantization
against disorder, interactions, and variations in the tunnel coupling. Previous
experiments, however, have shown ZBPs much smaller than 2e2/h, with a recent
observation of a peak-height close to 2e2/h. Here, we report a quantized
conductance plateau at 2e2/h in the zero-bias conductance measured in InSb
semiconductor nanowires covered with an Al superconducting shell. Our
ZBP-height remains constant despite changing parameters such as the magnetic
field and tunnel coupling, i.e. a quantized conductance plateau. We distinguish
this quantized Majorana peak from possible non-Majorana origins, by
investigating its robustness on electric and magnetic fields as well as its
temperature dependence. The observation of a quantized conductance plateau
strongly supports the existence of non-Abelian Majorana zero-modes in the
system, consequently paving the way for future braiding experiments.Comment: 5 figure
Transmission phase read-out of a large quantum dot in a nanowire interferometer
Detecting the transmission phase of a quantum dot via interferometry can reveal the symmetry of the orbitals and details of electron transport. Crucially, interferometry will enable the read-out of topological qubits based on one-dimensional nanowires. However, measuring the transmission phase of a quantum dot in a nanowire has not yet been established. Here, we exploit recent breakthroughs in the growth of one-dimensional networks and demonstrate interferometric read-out in a nanowire-based architecture. In our two-path interferometer, we define a quantum dot in one branch and use the other path as a reference arm. We observe Fano resonances stemming from the interference between electrons that travel through the reference arm and undergo resonant tunnelling in the quantum dot. Between consecutive Fano peaks, the transmission phase exhibits phase lapses that are affected by the presence of multiple trajectories in the interferometer. These results provide critical insights for the design of future topological qubits.QRD/Kouwenhoven LabQuTechQN/Kouwenhoven La
Impact of Junction Length on Supercurrent Resilience against Magnetic Field in InSb-Al Nanowire Josephson Junctions
Semiconducting nanowire Josephson junctions represent an attractive platform to investigate the anomalous Josephson effect and detect topological superconductivity. However, an external magnetic field generally suppresses the supercurrent through hybrid nanowire junctions and significantly limits the field range in which the supercurrent phenomena can be studied. In this work, we investigate the impact of the length of InSb-Al nanowire Josephson junctions on the supercurrent resilience against magnetic fields. We find that the critical parallel field of the supercurrent can be considerably enhanced by reducing the junction length. Particularly, in 30 nm long junctions supercurrent can persist up to 1.3 T parallel field─approaching the critical field of the superconducting film. Furthermore, we embed such short junctions into a superconducting loop and obtain the supercurrent interference at a parallel field of 1 T. Our findings are highly relevant for multiple experiments on hybrid nanowires requiring a magnetic-field-resilient supercurrent.QRD/Kouwenhoven LabQRD/Wimmer GroupQCD/Veldhorst LabBUS/Quantum DelftQN/Kouwenhoven La
Crossed Andreev Reflection in InSb flake Josephson Junctions
Data collection and code examples for plotting the figures of the manuscript entitled: Crossed Andreev Reflection in InSb Flake Josephson Junctions
Crossed Andreev Reflection in InSb flake Josephson Junctions
Data collection and code examples for plotting the figures of the manuscript entitled: Crossed Andreev Reflection in InSb Flake Josephson Junctions
Spin-Mixing Enhanced Proximity Effect in Aluminum-Based Superconductor–Semiconductor Hybrids
In superconducting quantum circuits, aluminum is one of the most widely used materials. It is currently also the superconductor of choice for the development of topological qubits. However, aluminum-based devices suffer from poor magnetic field compatibility. Herein, this limitation is resolved by showing that adatoms of heavy elements (e.g., platinum) increase the critical field of thin aluminum films by more than a factor of two. Using tunnel junctions, it is shown that the increased field resilience originates from spin-orbit scattering introduced by Pt. This property is exploited in the context of the superconducting proximity effect in semiconductor–superconductor hybrids, where it is shown that InSb nanowires strongly coupled to Al/Pt films can maintain superconductivity up to 7 T. The two-electron charging effect is shown to be robust against the presence of heavy adatoms. Additionally, non-local spectroscopy is used in a three-terminal geometry to probe the bulk of hybrid devices, showing that it remains free of sub-gap states. Finally, it is demonstrated that proximitized semiconductor states maintain their ability to Zeeman-split in an applied magnetic field. Combined with the chemical stability and well-known fabrication routes of aluminum, Al/Pt emerges as the natural successor to Al-based systems and is a compelling alternative to other superconductors, whenever high-field resilience is required.QRD/Kouwenhoven LabQCD/Veldhorst LabQN/Steele LabBUS/Quantum DelftQN/Kouwenhoven La
Dataset underlying the paper: Parity transitions in the superconducting ground state of hybrid InSb-Al Coulomb islands
Data for the figures in the paper 'Parity transitions in the superconducting ground state of hybrid InSb-Al Coulomb islands