176 research outputs found
Supercurrent in Nb/InAs-Nanowire/Nb Josephson junctions
We report on the fabrication and measurements of planar mesoscopic Josephson
junctions formed by InAs nanowires coupled to superconducting Nb terminals. The
use of Si-doped InAs-nanowires with different bulk carrier concentrations
allowed to tune the properties of the junctions. We have studied the junction
characteristics as a function of temperature, gate voltage, and magnetic field.
In junctions with high doping concentrations in the nanowire Josephson
supercurrent values up to 100\,nA are found. Owing to the use of Nb as
superconductor the Josephson coupling persists at temperatures up to 4K. In all
junctions the critical current monotonously decreased with the magnetic field,
which can be explained by a recently developed theoretical model for the
proximity effect in ultra-small Josephson junctions. For the low-doped
Josephson junctions a control of the critical current by varying the gate
voltage has been demonstrated. We have studied conductance fluctuations in
nanowires coupled to superconducting and normal metal terminals. The
conductance fluctuation amplitude is found to be about 6 times larger in
superconducting contacted nanowires. The enhancement of the conductance
fluctuations is attributed to phase-coherent Andreev reflection as well as to
the large number of phase-coherent channels due to the large superconducting
gap of the Nb electrodes.Comment: 5 Figure, submitted to Journal of Applied Physic
Carrier relaxation in GaAs v-groove quantum wires and the effects of localization
Carrier relaxation processes have been investigated in GaAs/AlGaAs v-groove
quantum wires (QWRs) with a large subband separation (46 meV). Signatures of
inhibited carrier relaxation mechanisms are seen in temperature-dependent
photoluminescence (PL) and photoluminescence-excitation (PLE) measurements; we
observe strong emission from the first excited state of the QWR below ~50 K.
This is attributed to reduced inter-subband relaxation via phonon scattering
between localized states. Theoretical calculations and experimental results
indicate that the pinch-off regions, which provide additional two-dimensional
confinement for the QWR structure, have a blocking effect on relaxation
mechanisms for certain structures within the v-groove. Time-resolved PL
measurements show that efficient carrier relaxation from excited QWR states
into the ground state, occurs only at temperatures > 30 K. Values for the low
temperature radiative lifetimes of the ground- and first excited-state excitons
have been obtained (340 ps and 160 ps respectively), and their corresponding
localization lengths along the wire estimated.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B Attempted to correct
corrupt figure
The Fano-Rashba effect
We analyze the linear conductance of a semiconductor quantum wire containing
a region where a local Rashba spin-orbit interaction is present. We show that
Fano lineshapes appear in the conductance due to the formation of quasi bound
states which interfere with the direct transmission along the wire, a mechanism
that we term the Fano-Rashba effect. We obtain the numerical solution of the
full Schr\"odinger equation using the quantum-transmitting-boundary method. The
theoretical analysis is performed using the coupled-channel model, finding an
analytical solution by ansatz. The complete numerical solution of the
coupled-channel equations is also discussed, showing the validity of the ansatz
approach.Comment: 5 pages, proceedings of ICN+T 2006 (Basel, Switzerland, 30/7-4/9),
accepted, to appear in J. Phys.: Conf. Se
Spin-orbit coupling and phase-coherence in InAs nanowires
We investigated the magnetotransport of InAs nanowires grown by selective
area metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. In the temperature range between 0.5
and 30 K reproducible fluctuations in the conductance upon variation of the
magnetic field or the back-gate voltage are observed, which are attributed to
electron interference effects in small disordered conductors. From the
correlation field of the magnetoconductance fluctuations the phase-coherence
length l_phi is determined. At the lowest temperatures l_phi is found to be at
least 300 nm, while for temperatures exceeding 2 K a monotonous decrease of
l_phi with temperature is observed. A direct observation of the weak
antilocalization effect indicating the presence of spin-orbit coupling is
masked by the strong magnetoconductance fluctuations. However, by averaging the
magnetoconductance over a range of gate voltages a clear peak in the
magnetoconductance due to the weak antilocalization effect was resolved. By
comparison of the experimental data to simulations based on a recursive
two-dimensional Green's function approach a spin-orbit scattering length of
approximately 70 nm was extracted, indicating the presence of strong spin-orbit
coupling.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Andreev reflection at high magnetic fields: Evidence for electron and hole transport in edge states
We have studied magnetotransport in arrays of niobium filled grooves in an
InAs/AlGaSb heterostructure. The critical field of up to 2.6 T permits to enter
the quantum Hall regime. In the superconducting state, we observe strong
magnetoresistance oscillations, whose amplitude exceeds the Shubnikov-de Haas
oscillations by a factor of about two, when normalized to the background.
Additionally, we find that above a geometry-dependent magnetic field value the
sample in the superconducting state has a higher longitudinal resistance than
in the normal state. Both observations can be explained with edge channels
populated with electrons and Andreev reflected holes.Comment: accepted for Phys Rev Lett, some changes to tex
Longitudinal photocurrent spectroscopy of a single GaAs/AlGaAs v-groove quantum wire
Modulation-doped GaAs v-groove quantum wires (QWRs) have been fabricated with
novel electrical contacts made to two-dimensional electron-gas (2DEG)
reservoirs. Here, we present longitudinal photocurrent (photoconductivity/PC)
spectroscopy measurements of a single QWR. We clearly observe conductance in
the ground-state one-dimensional subbands; in addition, a highly
temperature-dependent response is seen from other structures within the
v-groove. The latter phenomenon is attributed to the effects of structural
topography and localization on carrier relaxation. The results of
power-dependent PC measurements suggest that the QWR behaves as a series of
weakly interacting localized states, at low temperatures
Doppler Shift in Andreev Reflection from a Moving Superconducting Condensate in Nb/InAs Josephson Junctions
We study narrow ballistic Josephson weak links in a InAs quantum wells
contacted by Nb electrodes and find a dramatic magnetic-field suppression of
the Andreev reflection amplitude, which occurs even for in-plane field
orientation with essentially no magnetic flux through the junction. Our
observations demonstrate the presence of a Doppler shift in the energy of the
Andreev levels, which results from diamagnetic screening currents in the hybrid
Nb/InAs-banks. The data for conductance, excess and critical currents can be
consistently explained in terms of the sample geometry and the McMillan energy,
characterizing the transparency of the Nb/InAs-interface.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, title modifie
In-plane anisotropy of electrical transport in YTbBaCuO films
We fabricate high-quality c-axis oriented epitaxial YBaCuO
films with 15% of yttrium atoms replaced by terbium (YTBCO) and study their
electrical properties. The Tb substitution reduces the charge carrier density
resulting in increased resistivity and decreased critical current density
compared to the pure YBaCuO films. The electrical properties of
the YTBCO films show an in-plane anisotropy in both the superconducting and
normal state providing evidence for the twin-free film. Unexpectedly, the
resistive transition of the bridges also demonstrates the in-plane anisotropy
that can be explained within the framework of Tinkham's model of the resistive
transition and the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) model depending on the
sample parameters. We consider YTBCO films to be a promising platform for both
the fundamental research on the BKT transition in the cuprate superconductors
and for the fabrication of devices with high kinetic inductance
Control of Josephson current by Aharonov-Casher Phase in a Rashba Ring
We study the interference effect induced by the Aharonov-Casher phase on the
Josephson current through a semiconducting ring attached to superconducting
leads. Using a 1D model that incorporates spin-orbit coupling in the
semiconducting ring, we calculate the Andreev levels analytically and
numerically, and predict oscillations of the Josephson current due to the AC
phase. This result is valid from the point contact limit to the long channel
length limit, as defined by the ratio of the junction length and the BCS
healing length. We show in the long channel length limit that the impurity
scattering has no effect on the oscillation of the Josephson current, in
contrast to the case of conductivity oscillations in a spin-orbit coupled ring
system attached to normal leads where impurity scattering reduces the amplitude
of oscillations. Our results suggest a new scheme to measure the AC phase with,
in principle, higher sensitivity. In addition, this effect allows for control
of the Josephson current through the gate voltage tuned AC phase.Comment: 12pages, 8 figure
Spin relaxation: From 2D to 1D
In inversion asymmetric semiconductors, spin-orbit interactions give rise to
very effective relaxation mechanisms of the electron spin. Recent work, based
on the dimensionally constrained D'yakonov Perel' mechanism, describes
increasing electron-spin relaxation times for two-dimensional conducting layers
with decreasing channel width. The slow-down of the spin relaxation can be
understood as a precursor of the one-dimensional limit
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