Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userMicrowave nanobolometer based on proximity Josephson junctions
126
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We introduce a microwave bolometer aimed at high-quantum-efficiency detection of wave packet energy within the framework of circuit quantum electrodynamics, the ultimate goal being single microwave photon detection. We measure the differential thermal conductance between the detector and its heat bath, obtaining values as low as 5 fW/K at 50 mK. This is one tenth of the thermal conductance quantum and corresponds to a theoretical lower bound on noise-equivalent-power of order $10^{-20}$ $W/sqrt{mbox{Hz}}$ at 50 mK. By measuring the differential thermal conductance of the same bolometer design in qualitatively different environments and materials, we determine that electron--photon coupling dominates the thermalization of our nanobolometer.
rate research
Read More
We experimentally investigate and utilize electrothermal feedback in a microwave nanobolometer based on a normal-metal ($mbox{Au}_{x}mbox{Pd}_{1-x}$) nanowire with proximity-induced superconductivity. The feedback couples the temperature and the electrical degrees of freedom in the nanowire, which both absorbs the incoming microwave radiation, and transduces the temperature change into a radio-frequency electrical signal. We tune the feedback in situ and access both positive and negative feedback regimes with rich nonlinear dynamics. In particular, strong positive feedback leads to the emergence of two metastable electron temperature states in the millikelvin range. We use these states for efficient threshold detection of coherent 8.4 GHz microwave pulses containing approximately 200 photons on average, corresponding to $1.1 mbox{ zJ} approx 7.0 mbox{ meV}$ of energy.
We study two microscopic models of topological insulators in contact with an $s$-wave superconductor. In the first model the superconductor and the topological insulator are tunnel coupled via a layer of scalar and of randomly oriented spin impurities. Here, we require that spin-flip tunneling dominates over spin-conserving one. In the second model the tunnel coupling is realized by an array of single-level quantum dots with randomly oriented spins. It is shown that the tunnel region forms a $pi$-junction where the effective order parameter changes sign. Interestingly, due to the random spin orientation the effective descriptions of both models exhibit time-reversal symmetry. We then discuss how the proposed $pi$-junctions support topological superconductivity without magnetic fields and can be used to generate and manipulate Kramers pairs of Majorana fermions by gates.
High density superconductor-semiconductor-superconductor junctions have a small induced superconducting gap due to the quasiparticle trajectories with a large momentum parallel to the junction having a very long flight time. Because a large induced gap protects Majorana modes, these long trajectories constrain Majorana devices to a low electron density. We show that a zigzag-shaped geometry eliminates these trajectories, allowing the robust creation of Majorana states with both the induced gap $E_textrm{gap}$ and the Majorana size $xi_textrm{M}$ improved by more than an order of magnitude for realistic parameters. In addition to the improved robustness of Majoranas, this new zigzag geometry is insensitive to the geometric details and the device tuning.
We investigate the Josephson effect in a bilayer graphene flake contacted by two monolayer sheet deposited by superconducting electrodes. It is found that when the electrodes are attached to the different layers of the bilayer, the Josephson current is in a $pi$ state when the bilayer region is undoped and in the absence of vertical bias. Applying doping or bias to the junction reveals $pi-0$ transitions which can be controlled by varying the temperature and the junction length. The supercurrent reversal here is very different from the ferromagnetic Josephson junctions where the spin degree of freedom plays the key role. We argue that the scattering processes accompanied by layer and sublattice index change give rise to the scattering phases which their effect varies with doping and the bias. Such scattering phases are responsible for the $pi-0$ transitions. On the other hand if both of the electrodes are coupled to the same layer of the flake or the flake has AA stacking instead of common AB, the junction will be always in $0$ state since layer or sublattice index is not changed.
We theoretically propose a phase-coherent thermal circulator based on ballistic multiterminal Josephson junctions. The breaking of time-reversal symmetry by either a magnetic flux or a superconducting phase bias allows heat to flow preferentially in one direction from one terminal to the next while heat flow in the opposite direction is suppressed. We find that our device can achieve a high circulation efficiency over a wide range of parameters and that its performance is robust with respect to the presence of disorder. We provide estimates for the expected heat currents for realistic samples.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
