We study electromagnetic interaction of a nanomagnet with a weak superconducting link. Equations that govern coupled dynamics of the two systems are derived and investigated numerically. We show that the presence of a small magnet in the proximity of a weak link may be detected through Shapiro-like steps caused by the precession of the magnetic moment. Despite very weak magnetic field generated by the weak link, a time-dependent bias voltage applied to the link can initiate a non-linear dynamics of the nanomagnet that leads to the reversal of its magnetic moment. We also consider quantum problem in which a nanomagnet interacting with a weak link is treated as a two-state spin system due to quantum tunneling between spin-up and spin-down states.
We study a thin film system consisting of a superconducting and a magnetic film, where the superconductor contains a vortex and the magnetic film a nanomagnet. We find that if the magnetic film has planar anisotropy, the vortex induces a magnetization distribution, and its interaction with the nanomagnet crosses over from attractive to repulsive at short distances.
We present a simple nanodevice that can operate in two modes: i) three-state memory and ii) reading device. The nanodevice is fabricated with an array of ordered triangular-shaped nanomagnets embedded in a superconducting thin film. The input signal is ac current and the output signal is dc voltage. Vortex ratchet effect in combination with out of plane magnetic anisotropy of the nanomagnets is the background physics which governs the nanodevice performance.
We study the spin nutation effects of the molecular nanomagnet on the Josephson current through a superconductor$|$molecular nanomagnet$|$superconductor tunnel junction. We explicitly demonstrate that due to the spin nutation of the molecular nanomagnet two oscillatory terms emerge in the $ac$ Josephson current in addition to the conventional $ac$ Josephson current. Some resonances occur in the junction due to the interactions of the transported quasiparticles with the bias voltage and molecular nanomagnet spin dynamics. The appearance of them indicate that the energy exchanged during these in…
A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) with a magnetic tip that has a sufficiently strong spin-polarization can be used to map the sample's spin structure down to the atomic scale but usually lacks the possibility to absolutely determine the value of the sample's spin-polarization. Magnetic impurities in superconducting materials give rise to pairs of perfectly, i.e. 100% spin-polarized sub-gap resonances. In this work, we functionalize the apex of a superconducting Nb STM-tip with such impurity states by attaching Fe atoms to probe the spin-polarization of atom-manipulated Mn nanomagnets on a …
The supercurrent of a quantum point contact coupled to a nanomagnet strongly depends on the dynamics of the nanomagnet's spin. We employ a fully microscopic model to calculate the transport properties of a junction coupled to a spin whose dynamics is modeled as Larmor precession brought about by an external magnetic field and find that the dynamics affects the charge and spin currents by inducing transitions between the continuum states below the superconducting gap edge and the Andreev levels. This redistribution of the quasiparticles leads to a non-equilibrium population of the Andreev level…
We show that the dynamic magnetic susceptibility and the superparamagnetic blocking temperature of an Fe8 single molecule magnet oscillate as a function of the magnetic field Hx applied along its hard magnetic axis. These oscillations are associated with quantum interferences, tuned by Hx, between different spin tunneling paths linking two excited magnetic states. The oscillation period is determined by the quantum mixing between the ground S=10 and excited multiplets. These experiments enable us to quantify such mixing. We find that the weight of excited multiplets in the magnetic ground stat…
We investigate the charge and spin transport of a voltage-biased superconducting point contact coupled to a nanomagnet. The magnetization of the nanomagnet is assumed to precess with the Larmor frequency, $ω_L$, due to ferromagnetic resonance. The interplay between the ac Josephson current and the magnetization dynamics leads to spin-polarized Shapiro steps at voltages $|V|=\hbar ω_L/2en$ for $n=1,2,...$ and the subharmonic steps with $n>1$ are a consequence of multiple Andreev reflection (MAR). Moreover, the spin-precession-assisted MAR generates quasiparticle scattering amplitudes that, due …
Scanning nanoscale superconducting quantum interference devices (nanoSQUIDs) are of growing interest for highly sensitive quantitative imaging of magnetic, spintronic, and transport properties of low-dimensional systems. Utilizing specifically designed grooved quartz capillaries pulled into a sharp pipette, we have fabricated the smallest SQUID-on-tip (SOT) devices with effective diameters down to 39 nm. Integration of a resistive shunt in close proximity to the pipette apex combined with self-aligned deposition of In and Sn, have resulted in SOT with a flux noise of 42 n$Φ_0$Hz$^{-1/2}$, yiel…
On-chip Dicke-type magnon polaritons in the ultrastrong coupling regime via spatially separated nanomagnets
Kyoto University（京都大学）；Center for Spintronics Research Network, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University（京都大学化学研究所在旋电子学研究网络中心）；Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften（巴伐利亚科学院瓦尔特-迈斯纳研究所）；Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Physics Department（慕尼黑工业大学自然科学学院物理系）；Osaka Metropolitan University（大阪公立大学）；Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)（慕尼黑量子科学与技术中心）
Ramsey et al. [Nature Phys. 4, 277-281 (2008)] report the observation of quantum interference associated with tunnelling trajectories between states of different total spin length in a dimeric molecular nanomagnet. They argue that the interference is a consequence of the unique characteristics of a molecular Mn12 wheel, which behaves as a molecular dimer with weak ferromagnetic exchange coupling. We show here that the data published by Ramsey et al. are not consistent and unfortunately mostly wrong. We show further that the Landau-Zener (LZ) formula, which links the tunnel probability with the…
Strongly out-of-equilibrium regimes in magnetic nanostructures exhibit novel properties, linked to the nonlinear nature of magnetization dynamics, which are of great fundamental and practical interest. Here, we demonstrate that field-driven ferromagnetic resonance can occur with substantial spatial coherency at unprecedented large angle of magnetization precessions, which is normally prevented by the onset of spin-wave instabilities and magnetization turbulent dynamics. Our results show that this limitation can be overcome in nanomagnets, where the geometric confinement drastically reduces the…
Weak impurity scattering produces a narrow band with a finite density of states near the phase difference $ϕ=π$ in the mid-gap energy spectrum of a macroscopic superconducting weak link. The equivalent distribution of transmission coefficients of various cunducting quantum channels is found.
We consider the general Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) dynamical theory underlying the magnetization switching rates of a thin film uniaxial magnet subject to spin-torque effects and thermal fluctuations (thermal noise). After discussing the various dynamical regimes governing the switching phenomena, we present analytical results for the mean switching time behavior. Our approach, based on explicitly solving the first passage time problem, allows for a straightforward analysis of the thermally assisted, low spin-torque, switching asymptotics of thin film magnets. To verify our theory, we have …
We report a giant inverse proximity effect that arises in the low-dimensional devices and is crucially different from proximity in the standard superconductor-normal-superconductor (S/N/S) junctions. The normal conductors induce a giant back-action on the proximity superconducting regions even when the dimensions of the normal parts are smaller than the proximity coherence length. This essentially suppresses the superconducting characteristics of the entire system, including the critical current, well below those for the usual S/N/S structures.
In ballistic Josephson junctions the experimentally observed iv-characteristics deviate from the theoretically predicted behaviour. Recently, Heida et al. Phys. Rev. B 60, 13135 (1999) discussed this problem and offered an explanation for the discrepancy. Considering this explanation, several contradictions to the authors' data as well as to other publications are shown.
We have studied the current-voltage characteristics of superconducting weak links in which the coupling medium is the 2-D electron gas in InAs-based semiconductor quantum wells, with relatively large (typically 0.5 micron) separations between niobium electrodes. The devices exhibit Josephson-like current-voltage characteristics; however, the falloff of the differential resistance with decreasing temperature is thermally activated, and is orders of magnitude slower than for more conventional weak links. Most unexpectedly, the thermal activation energies are found to be proportional to the width…
Nonlinear kinetic inductance in a high Q superconducting coplanar waveguide microresonator can cause a bifurcation of the resonance curve. Near the critical pumping power and frequency for bifurcation, large parametric gain is observed for signals in the frequency band near resonance. We show experimental results on signal and intermodulation gain which are well described by a theory of the parametric amplification based on a Kerr nonlinearity. Phase dependent gain, or signal squeezing, is verified with a homodyne detection scheme.
Superconducting weak-link (WL), behaving like a Josephson junction (JJ), is fundamental to many superconducting devices such as nanoSQUIDs, single-photon detectors, and bolometers. The interplay between unique nonlinear dynamics and inevitable Joule heating in a JJ leads to new characteristics. Here, we report a time-dependent model incorporating thermal effect in the AC Josephson regime for a Josephson WL shunted by a resistor together with an inductor to investigate the dynamics as well as the resulting current-voltage characteristics. We find that the dynamic regime where phase and temperat…
We present a comprehensive theoretical framework for the Andreev bound state population dynamics in superconducting weak links. Contrary to previous works, our approach takes into account the generated nonequilibrium distribution of the continuum quasiparticle states in a self-consistent way. As application of our theory, we show that the coupling of the superconducting contact to environmental phase fluctuations induces a charge imbalance of the continuum quasiparticle population. This imbalance is due to the breaking of the left-right symmetry in the rates connecting continuum quasiparticles…
Superconducting weak link (WL), acting as a Josephson junction (JJ), is one of the widely used elements in superconductor science and quantum circuits. A hysteretic JJ with robust switching between its superconducting and resistive state is an excellent candidate for single-photon detection. However, the ubiquitous fluctuations in the junction strongly influence the stability of the states and, thus, the transition from one to the other. Here, we present an experimental study of switching statistics of critical and retrapping currents of a JJ based on niobium WL in its hysteretic regime. The m…
Quantum phase slips are traditionally considered in diffusive superconducting wires which are assumed homogeneous. We present a definite estimate for the amplitude of phase slips that occur at a weak inhomogeneity in the wire where local resistivity is slightly increased. We model such a weak link as a general coherent conductor and show that the amplitude is dominated by topological part of the action. We argue that such weak links occur naturally in apparently homogeneous wires and adjust the estimate to that case. The fabrication of an artificial weak link would localize phase slips and fac…
Josephson tunnel junctions are widely used as nonlinear elements in superconducting circuits such as low noise amplifiers and quantum bits. However, microscopic defects in the oxide tunnel barrier can produce low and high frequency noise which can potentially limit the coherence times and quality factors of resonant circuits. Weak link Josephson junctions are an attractive alternative provided that sufficient nonlinearity can be engineered. We compute the current phase relation for superconducting weak links, with dimensions comparable to the zero temperature coherence length, connected to two…
We demonstrate coherent dynamics of quantized magnetic fluxes in a superconducting loop with a weak link - a nanobridge patterned from the same thin NbN film as the loop. The bridge is a short rounded shape constriction, close to 10 nm long and 20 - 30 nm wide, having minimal width at its center. Quantum state control and coherent oscillations in the driven time evolution of the tunnel-junctionless system are achieved. Decoherence and energy relaxation in the system are studied using a combination of microwave spectroscopy and direct time-domain techniques. The effective flux noise behavior su…
We present a formalism to study adiabatic pumping through a superconductor - normal - superconductor weak link. At zero temperature, the pumped charge is related to the Berry phase accumulated, in a pumping cycle, by the Andreev bound states. We analyze in detail the case when the normal region is short compared to the superconducting coherence length. The pumped charge turns out to be an even function of the superconducting phase difference. Hence, it can be distinguished from the charge transferred due to the standard Josephson effect.
We present transport measurements of unshunted dc superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) consisting of 30 nm wide aluminum nanobridges of varying length L contacted with two and three dimensional banks. 3D nanobridge SQUIDs with L $\leq$ 150 nm (approximately 3-4 times the superconducting coherence length) exhibit $\approx 70%$ critical current modulation with applied magnetic field, approaching the theoretical limit for an ideal short metallic weak link. In contrast, 2D nanobridge SQUIDs exhibit significantly lower critical current modulation. This enhanced nonlinearity makes 3…
We measure the gate voltage ($V_g$) dependence of the superconducting properties and the spin-orbit interaction in the (111)-oriented LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ interface. Superconductivity is observed in a dome-shaped region in the carrier density-temperature phase diagram with the maxima of superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ and the upper critical fields lying at the same $V_g$. The spin-orbit interaction determined from the superconducting parameters and confirmed by weak-antilocalization measurements follows the same gate voltage dependence as $T_c$. The correlation between the supercon…
We briefly review the oscillator and spin bath models of quantum environments, which can be used to describe the low-energy dynamics of open quantum systems. We then use them to discuss both the mechanisms causing decoherence at low $T$, and the dynamics of this decoherence. This is done first for a central 2-level system coupled to these environments- the results can be applied to the dynamics of quantum nanomagnets and superconducting SQUIDs, where large-scale tunneling of magnetisation and flux take place. Decoherence in these systems is caused principally by coupling to electrons and nucle…
The Josephson effect describes the flow of supercurrent in a weak link, such as a tunnel junction, nanowire, or molecule, between two superconductors. It is the basis for a variety of circuits and devices, with applications ranging from medicine to quantum information. Currently, experiments using Josephson circuits that behave like artificial atoms are revolutionizing the way we probe and exploit the laws of quantum physics. Microscopically, the supercurrent is carried by Andreev pair states, which are localized at the weak link. These states come in doublets and have energies inside the supe…
By coupling a superconducting weak link to a microwave resonator, recent experiments probed the spectrum and achieved the quantum manipulation of Andreev states in various systems. However, the quantitative understanding of the response of the resonator to changes in the occupancy of the Andreev levels, which are of fermionic nature, is missing. Here, using Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism to describe the weak link and a general formulation of the coupling to the resonator, we calculate the shift of the resonator frequency as a function of the levels occupancy and describe how transitions are in…
Experiments on disordered superconducting thin films have revealed a magnetoresistance peak of several orders of magnitude. Starting from the disordered negative-U Hubbard model, we employ an ab initio approach that includes thermal fluctuations to calculate the resistance, and fully reproduces the experimental phenomenology. Maps of the microscopic current flow and local potential allow us to pinpoint the source of the magnetoresistance peak -- the conducting weak links change from normal on the low-field side of the peak to superconducting on the high-field side. Finally, we formulate a simp…
Hopf-link semimetals exhibit exotic gapless band structures with fascinating topological properties, which have never been observed in nature. Here we demonstrate nodal lines with topological form of Hopf-link chains in artificial semimetal-bands. Driving superconducting quantum circuits with elaborately designed microwave fields, we mapped the momentum space of a lattice to a parameter space of the Hamiltonian for a Hopf-link semimetal. By measuring the energy spectrum, we directly imaged nodal lines in cubic lattices. By tuning the driving fields, we adjusted various parameters of Hamiltonia…
Modern Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) are commonly fabricated from either Al or Nb electrodes, with an in-situ oxidation process to create a weak link between them. However, common problems of such planar nano- and micro-SQUIDs are hysteretic current-voltage curves, and a shallow flux modulation depth. Here, we demonstrate the formation of both Josephson junctions and SQUIDs using a dry transfer technique to stack and deterministically misalign flakes of NbSe$_{2}$; allowing one to overcome these issues. The Josephson dynamics of the resulting twisted NbSe$_{2}$-NbSe$_{2…
The local quasiparticle density of states in the current-carrying d-wave superconducting structures was studied theoretically. The density of states can be accessed through the conductance of the scanning tunnelling microscope. Two particular situations were considered: the current state of the homogeneous film and the weak link between two current-carrying d-wave superconductors.
Artificially engineered topological superconductivity has emerged as a viable route to create Majorana modes, exotic quasiparticles which have raised great expectations for storing and manipulating information in topological quantum computational schemes. The essential ingredients for their realization are spin non-degenerate metallic states proximitized to an s-wave superconductor. In this context, proximity-induced superconductivity in materials with a sizable spin-orbit coupling has been heavily investigated in recent years. Although there is convincing evidence that superconductivity may i…
We study inhomogeneous Cooper pairs distribution and localization effects in tree-like networks of superconducting islands coupled via Josephson weak links. Using a generalized Feynman's approach, reminiscent of the Bose-Hubbard model, we demonstrate that the Cooper pairs fraction which localizes on a specific network's island is limited by the network topology and, if present, by the repulsive interaction. These findings contribute to clarify the interplay between confinement effects induced by the network's topology and interaction and shed some light on recent experiments dealing with netwo…
A new technique is presented which enables the fabrication of highly transparent Josephson junctions in combination with mesoscopic devices. We utilize a modified AFM tip to plough grooves into superconducting material, thus defining a weak link. This weak link is made within the superconducting split-gates, which are used to electrostatically form a conventional quantum dot and serves as a source of millimeter wave radiation around 100 GHz. We show the characteristics of typical junctions built and discuss their high-frequency properties. We find that the millimeter wave emission of the weak …
The Josephson effect is one of the most studied macroscopic quantum phenomena in condensed matter physics and has been an essential part of the quantum technologies development over the last decades. It is already used in many applications such as magnetometry, metrology, quantum computing, detectors or electronic refrigeration. However, developing devices in which the induced superconductivity can be monitored, both spatially and in its magnitude, remains a serious challenge. In this work, we have used local gates to control confinement, amplitude and density profile of the supercurrent induc…
The Cooper-pair transistor (CPT), a small superconducting island enclosed between two Josephson weak links, is the atomic building block of various superconducting quantum circuits. Utilizing gate-tunable semiconductor channels as weak links, the energy scale associated with the Josephson tunneling can be changed with respect to the charging energy of the island, tuning the extent of its charge fluctuations. Here, we directly demonstrate this control by mapping the energy level structure of a CPT made of an indium arsenide nanowire (NW) with a superconducting aluminum shell. We extract the dev…
We investigate the properties of a weak link between two Rashba-based superconducting nanowires with geometric misalignment. By applying an external magnetic field the system can be driven into a topological non-trivial regime. We demonstrate that the Josephson current can be modulated in amplitude and sign through the variation of the applied field and, remarkably, via the angle controlling the spin-orbit locking mismatch at the interface of the nanowires. The proposed setup with misaligned coplanar nanowires provides the building block configuration for the manipulation of coherent transport…
We present the driven response at T=30mK of 6 GHz superconducting resonators constructed from capacitively-shunted three dimensional (3D) aluminum nanobridge superconducting quantum interference devices (nanoSQUIDs). We observe flux modulation of the resonant frequency in quantitative agreement with numerical calculation and characteristic of near-ideal short weak link junctions. Under strong microwave excitation, we observe stable bifurcation in devices with coupled quality factor (Q) ranging from ~30-3500. Near this bias point, parametric amplification with > 20dB gain, 40 MHz bandwidth, and…
We have reproducibly contacted gated single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) to superconducting leads based on niobium. The devices are identified to belong to two transparency regimes: The Coulomb blockade and the Kondo regime. Clear signature of the superconducting leads is observed in both regimes and in the Kondo regime a narrow zero bias peak interpreted as a proximity induced supercurrent persist in Coulomb blockade diamonds with Kondo resonances.
We use superconducting rings with asymmetric link-up of current leads for experimental investigation of winding number change at magnetic field corresponding to the half of the flux quantum inside the ring. According to the conventional theory, the critical current of such rings should change by jump due to this change. Experimental data obtained at measurements of aluminum rings agree with theoretical prediction in magnetic flux region close to integer numbers of the flux quantum and disagree in the region close to the half of the one, where a smooth change is observed instead of the jump. Fi…
We study how the shape of a periodic magnetic field affects the presence of Majorana bound states (MBS) in a nanowire-superconductor system. Motivated by the field configurations that can be produced by an array of nanomagnets, we consider spiral fields with an elliptic cross-section and fields with two sinusoidal components. We show that MBS are robust to imperfect helical magnetic fields. In particular, if the amplitude of one component is tuned to the value determined by the superconducting order parameter in the wire, the MBS can exist even if the second component has a much smaller amplit…
We consider a new type of cooling mechanism for a suspended nanowire acting as a weak link between two superconductive electrodes. By applying a bias voltage over the system, we show that the system can be viewed as a refrigerator for the nanomechanical vibrations, where energy is continuously transferred from the vibrational degrees of freedom to the extended quasiparticle states in the leads through the periodic modulation of the inter-Andreev level separation. The necessary coupling between the electronic and mechanical degrees of freedom responsible for this energy-transfer can be achieved…
We describe a superconducting-circuit lattice design for the implementation and simulation of dynamical lattice gauge theories. We illustrate our proposal by analyzing a one-dimensional U(1) quantum-link model, where superconducting qubits play the role of matter fields on the lattice sites and the gauge fields are represented by two coupled microwave resonators on each link between neighboring sites. A detailed analysis of a minimal experimental protocol for probing the physics related to string breaking effects shows that despite the presence of decoherence in these systems, distinctive phen…
A model consisting of a mixture of superconducting and quantum links is proposed to describe the integer quantum Hall transition. The quantum links correspond to tunneling of electrons between trajectories trapped in adjacent potential valleys, while the superconducting links correspond to merging of these trajectories once the Fermi energy crosses the saddle point energy separating the two valleys. The quantum Hall transition in this model corresponds to percolation of the superconducting links. Numerical calculations and scaling analysis using two different approaches yield the critical expo…
The simultaneous co-existence and gate-tuneability of the superconducting (SC), magnetic and topological orders in magic angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) open up entirely new possibilities for the creation of complex hybrid Josephson junctions (JJ). Here we report on the creation of gate-defined, magnetic Josephson junctions in MATBG, where the weak link is gate-tuned close to the correlated state at a moiré filling factor of ν=-2. A highly unconventional Fraunhofer pattern emerges, which is phase-shifted and asymmetric with respect to the current and magnetic field directions, and shows…
Solid state spin qubits are promising candidates for the realization of a quantum computer due to their long coherence times and easy electrical manipulation. However, spin-spin interactions, which are needed for entangling gates, have only limited range as they generally rely on tunneling between neighboring quantum dots. This severely constrains scalability. Proposals to extend the interaction range generally focus on coherent electron transport between dots or on extending the coupling range. Here, we study a setup where such an extension is obtained by using a superconductor as a quantum m…
Superconductivity in SrTiO$_3$ occurs at remarkably low carrier densities and therefore, unlike conventional superconductors, can be controlled by electrostatic gates. Here we demonstrate nanoscale weak links connecting superconducting leads, all within a single material, SrTiO$_3$. Ionic liquid gating accumulates carriers in the leads, and local electrostatic gates are tuned to open the weak link. These devices behave as superconducting quantum point contacts with a quantized critical supercurrent. This is a milestone towards establishing SrTiO$_3$ as a single-material platform for mesoscopic…
The rich phase diagram of the two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the \STO/\LAO interface is probed using Hall and longitudinal resistivity. Thanks to a special bridge design we are able to tune through the superconducting transition temperature T$_c$ and to mute superconductivity by either adding or removing carriers in a gate bias range of a few volts. Hall signal measurements pinpoint the onset of population of a second mobile band right at the carrier concentration where maximum superconducting T$_c$ and critical field H$_c$ occur. These results emphasize the advantages of our design, w…
Electric weak links, the term used for those parts of an electrical circuit that provide most of the resistance against the flow of an electrical current, are important elements of many nanodevices. Quantum dots, nanowires and nano-constrictions that bridge two bulk conductors (or superconductors) are examples of such weak links. Here we consider nanostructures where the electronic spin-orbit interaction is strong in the weak link but is unimportant in the bulk conductors, and explore theoretically the role of the spin-orbit active weak link (which we call a "Rashba spin splitter") as a source…
