146 research outputs found
Dynamics of parametric fluctuations induced by quasiparticle tunneling in superconducting flux qubits
We present experiments on the dynamics of a two-state parametric fluctuator
in a superconducting flux qubit. In spectroscopic measurements, the fluctuator
manifests itself as a doublet line. When the qubit is excited in resonance with
one of the two doublet lines, the correlation of readout results exhibits an
exponential time decay which provides a measure of the fluctuator transition
rate. The rate increases with temperature in the interval 40 to 158 mK. Based
on the magnitude of the transition rate and the doublet line splitting we
conclude that the fluctuation is induced by quasiparticle tunneling. These
results demonstrate the importance of considering quasiparticles as a source of
decoherence in flux qubits.Comment: 12 pages, including supplementary informatio
Universal transport signatures of Majorana fermions in superconductor-Luttinger liquid junctions
One of the most promising proposals for engineering topological
superconductivity and Majorana fermions employs a spin-orbit coupled nanowire
subjected to a magnetic field and proximate to an s-wave superconductor. When
only part of the wire's length contacts to the superconductor, the remaining
conducting portion serves as a natural lead that can be used to probe these
Majorana modes via tunneling. The enhanced role of interactions in one
dimension dictates that this configuration should be viewed as a
superconductor-Luttinger liquid junction. We investigate such junctions between
both helical and spinful Luttinger liquids, and topological as well as
non-topological superconductors. We determine the phase diagram for each case
and show that universal low-energy transport in these systems is governed by
fixed points describing either perfect normal reflection or perfect Andreev
reflection. In addition to capturing (in some instances) the familiar
Majorana-mediated `zero-bias anomaly' in a new framework, we show that
interactions yield dramatic consequences in certain regimes. Indeed, we
establish that strong repulsion removes this conductance anomaly altogether
while strong attraction produces dynamically generated effective Majorana modes
even in a junction with a trivial superconductor. Interactions further lead to
striking signatures in the local density of states and the line-shape of the
conductance peak at finite voltage, and also are essential for establishing
smoking-gun transport signatures of Majorana fermions in spinful Luttinger
liquid junctions.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, v
Kinetics of non-equilibrium quasiparticle tunneling in superconducting charge qubits
We directly observe low-temperature non-equilibrium quasiparticle tunneling
in a pair of charge qubits based on the single Cooper-pair box. We measure
even- and odd-state dwell time distributions as a function of temperature, and
interpret these results using a kinetic theory. While the even-state lifetime
is exponentially distributed, the odd-state distribution is more heavily
weighted to short times, implying that odd-to-even tunnel events are not
described by a homogenous Poisson process. The mean odd-state dwell time
increases sharply at low temperature, which is consistent with quasiparticles
tunneling out of the island before reaching thermal equilibrium.Comment: Replaced Figure 1 with color version, corrected more typos. Version
submitted to PR
Kinetics of the superconducting charge qubit in the presence of a quasiparticle
We investigate the energy and phase relaxation of a superconducting qubit
caused by a single quasiparticle. In our model, the qubit is an isolated system
consisting of a small island (Cooper-pair box) and a larger superconductor
(reservoir) connected with each other by a tunable Josephson junction. If such
system contains an odd number of electrons, then even at lowest temperatures a
single quasiparticle is present in the qubit. Tunneling of a quasiparticle
between the reservoir and the Cooper-pair box results in the relaxation of the
qubit. We derive master equations governing the evolution of the qubit
coherences and populations. We find that the kinetics of the qubit can be
characterized by two time scales - quasiparticle escape time from reservoir to
the box, , and quasiparticle relaxation time . The
former is determined by the dimensionless normal-state conductance of the
Josephson junction and one-electron level spacing in the reservoir
(), and the latter is due to electron-phonon
interaction. We find that phase coherence is damped on the time scale of
. The qubit energy relaxation depends on the ratio of the two
characteristic times, and , and also on the ratio of
temperature to the Josephson energy .Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, final version as published in PRB, some changes,
reference adde
- …