Semiconductor Nanowire Josephson Junctions: In the search for the Majorana

Due to the collective behavior of electrons, exotic states can appear in condensed matter systems. In this PhD thesis, we investigate semiconducting nanowire Josephson junctions that potentially have Majorana zero modes (MZM) as exotic states. MZM are expected to form a robust quantum bit and quantum operations are done by interchange, otherwise known as braiding. The presence of MZM in a Josephson junction creates a topological junction, with properties which are drastically different from a normal Josephson junction. Understanding such topological junctions is of key importance in developing circuits for MZM braiding.QRD/Kouwenhoven La

Majorana fermions in well aligned InSb-nanowires with superconducting and normal contacts

In this Master thesis I report results on a route to find Majorana fermions in indium antimonide nanowires in contact with a superconductor. Theoretically Majorana fermions appear in one-dimensional nanowires with strong spin-orbit coupling, in proximity with a superconductor and an external magnetic field applied parallel to the nanowire. The nanowires are deposited by a deterministic method, in this way the external magnetic field is perfect aligned with the nanowires up to a few degrees. Results we observed are a possible magnetic field tunable pi-junction, measurements of an induced gap in the nanowire and a robust zero-bias peak that persist in both gate and magnetic field scans. This zero-bias peak can be split and recombine with varying the applied magnetic field and the local gate potential.Quantum TransportQuantum NanoscienceApplied Science

Josephson radiation and shot noise of a semiconductor nanowire junction

We measured the Josephson radiation emitted by an InSb semiconductor nanowire junction utilizing photon-assisted quasiparticle tunneling in an ac-coupled superconducting tunnel junction. We quantify the action of the local microwave environment by evaluating the frequency dependence of the inelastic Cooper-pair tunneling of the nanowire junction and find the zero-frequency impedance Z(0)=492Ω with a cutoff frequency of f0=33.1GHz. We extract a circuit coupling efficiency of η≈0.1 and a detector quantum efficiency approaching unity in the high-frequency limit. In addition to the Josephson radiation, we identify a shot noise contribution with a Fano factor F≈1, consistently with the presence of single electron states in the nanowire channel.QRD/Kouwenhoven LabQN/Quantum TransportQN/Bakkers LabQRD/Geresdi La

Observation of the 4π-periodic Josephson effect in indium arsenide nanowires

Quantum computation by non-Abelian Majorana zero modes (MZMs) offers an approach to achieve fault tolerance by encoding quantum information in the non-local charge parity states of semiconductor nanowire networks in the topological superconductor regime. Thus far, experimental studies of MZMs chiefly relied on single electron tunneling measurements, which lead to the decoherence of the quantum information stored in the MZM. As a next step towards topological quantum computation, charge parity conserving experiments based on the Josephson effect are required, which can also help exclude suggested non-topological origins of the zero bias conductance anomaly. Here we report the direct measurement of the Josephson radiation frequency in indium arsenide nanowires with epitaxial aluminium shells. We observe the 4π-periodic Josephson effect above a magnetic field of ≈200 mT, consistent with the estimated and measured topological phase transition of similar devices.QRD/Kouwenhoven LabQuTechQRD/Geresdi La

Microwave spectroscopy of spinful Andreev bound states in ballistic semiconductor Josephson junctions

The superconducting proximity effect in semiconductor nanowires has recently enabled the study of new superconducting architectures, such as gate-tunable superconducting qubits and multiterminal Josephson junctions. As opposed to their metallic counterparts, the electron density in semiconductor nanosystems is tunable by external electrostatic gates, providing a highly scalable and in situ variation of the device properties. In addition, semiconductors with large g-factor and spin-orbit coupling have been shown to give rise to exotic phenomena in superconductivity, such as † 0 Josephson junctions and the emergence of Majorana bound states. Here, we report microwave spectroscopy measurements that directly reveal the presence of Andreev bound states (ABS) in ballistic semiconductor channels. We show that the measured ABS spectra are the result of transport channels with gate-tunable, high transmission probabilities up to 0.9, which is required for gate-tunable Andreev qubits and beneficial for braiding schemes of Majorana states. For the first time, we detect excitations of a spin-split pair of ABS and observe symmetry-broken ABS, a direct consequence of the spin-orbit coupling in the semiconductor.QRD/Kouwenhoven LabQuTechQRD/Geresdi La

Gate-Tunable Field-Compatible Fluxonium

Hybrid superconducting circuits, which integrate nonsuperconducting elements into a circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) architecture, expand the possible applications of cQED. Building hybrid circuits that work in large magnetic fields presents even further possibilities, such as the probing of spin-polarized Andreev bound states and the investigation of topological superconductivity. Here we present a magnetic-field compatible hybrid fluxonium with an electrostatically tuned semiconducting nanowire as its nonlinear element. We operate the fluxonium in magnetic fields up to 1 T and use it to observe the f0-Josephson effect. This combination of gate tunability and field compatibility opens avenues for the control of spin-polarized phenomena using superconducting circuits and enables the use of the fluxonium as a readout device for topological qubits.QRD/Kouwenhoven LabQuTechBUS/TNO STAFFQN/Kouwenhoven La

Magnetic-Field-Resilient Superconducting Coplanar-Waveguide Resonators for Hybrid Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics Experiments

Superconducting coplanar-waveguide resonators that can operate in strong magnetic fields are important tools for a variety of high-frequency superconducting devices. Magnetic fields degrade resonator performance by creating Abrikosov vortices that cause resistive losses and frequency fluctuations or suppress the superconductivity entirely. To mitigate these effects, we investigate lithographically defined artificial defects in resonators fabricated from Nb-Ti-N superconducting films. We show that by controlling the vortex dynamics, the quality factor of resonators in perpendicular magnetic fields can be greatly enhanced. Coupled with the restriction of the device geometry to enhance the superconductors critical field, we demonstrate stable resonances that retain quality factors ≃105 at the single-photon power level in perpendicular magnetic fields up to B⊥ ≃20mT and parallel magnetic fields up to B⥠≃6T. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique for hybrid systems by integrating an In-Sb nanowire into a field-resilient superconducting resonator and use it to perform fast charge readout of a gate-defined double quantum dot at B=1T.QRD/Kouwenhoven LabQuTechApplied SciencesBUS/GeneralQCD/DiCarlo LabQN/Kouwenhoven La

Ballistic superconductivity in semiconductor nanowires

Semiconductor nanowires have opened new research avenues in quantum transport owing to their confined geometry and electrostatic tunability. They have offered an exceptional testbed for superconductivity, leading to the realization of hybrid systems combining the macroscopic quantum properties of superconductors with the possibility to control charges down to a single electron. These advances brought semiconductor nanowires to the forefront of efforts to realize topological superconductivity and Majorana modes. A prime challenge to benefit from the topological properties of Majoranas is to reduce the disorder in hybrid nanowire devices. Here we show ballistic superconductivity in InSb semiconductor nanowires. Our structural and chemical analyses demonstrate a high-quality interface between the nanowire and a NbTiN superconductor that enables ballistic transport. This is manifested by a quantized conductance for normal carriers, a strongly enhanced conductance for Andreev-reflecting carriers, and an induced hard gap with a significantly reduced density of states. These results pave the way for disorder-free Majorana devices.QRD/Kouwenhoven LabQN/Conesa-Boj LabQRD/Wimmer LabQubit Research DivisionQN/Bakkers LabBUS/GeneralQRD/Goswami La