Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userQuantum confinement effects in Pb Nanocrystals grown on InAs
161
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
In the recent work of Ref.cite{Vlaic2017-bs}, it has been shown that Pb nanocrystals grown on the electron accumulation layer at the (110) surface of InAs are in the regime of Coulomb blockade. This enabled the first scanning tunneling spectroscopy study of the superconducting parity effect across the Anderson limit. The nature of the tunnel barrier between the nanocrystals and the substrate has been attributed to a quantum constriction of the electronic wave-function at the interface due to the large Fermi wavelength of the electron accumulation layer in InAs. In this manuscript, we detail and review the arguments leading to this conclusion. Furthermore, we show that, thanks to this highly clean tunnel barrier, this system is remarkably suited for the study of discrete electronic levels induced by quantum confinement effects in the Pb nanocrystals. We identified three distinct regimes of quantum confinement. For the largest nanocrystals, quantum confinement effects appear through the formation of quantum well states regularly organized in energy and in space. For the smallest nanocrystals, only atomic-like electronic levels separated by a large energy scale are observed. Finally, in the intermediate size regime, discrete electronic levels associated to electronic wave-functions with a random spatial structure are observed, as expected from Random Matrix Theory.
rate research
Read More
We present a study of Andreev Quantum Dots (QDots) fabricated with small-diameter (30 nm) Si-doped InAs nanowires where the Fermi level can be tuned across a mobility edge separating localized states from delocalized states. The transition to the insulating phase is identified by a drop in the amplitude and width of the excited levels and is found to have remarkable consequences on the spectrum of superconducting SubGap Resonances (SGRs). While at deeply localized levels, only quasiparticles co-tunneling is observed, for slightly delocalized levels, Shiba bound states form and a parity changing quantum phase transition is identified by a crossing of the bound states at zero energy. Finally, in the metallic regime, single Andreev resonances are observed.
Motivated by the recent proposals for unconventional emergent physics in twisted bilayers of nodal superconductors, we study the peculiarities of the Josephson effect at the twisted interface between $d$-wave superconductors. We demonstrate that for clean interfaces with a twist angle $theta_0$ in the range $0^circ<theta_0<45^circ$ the critical current can exhibit nonmonotonic temperature dependence with a maximum at a nonzero temperature as well as a complex dependence on the twist angle at low temperatures. The former is shown to arise quite generically due to the contributions of the momenta around the gap nodes, which are negative for nonzero twist angles. It is demonstrated that these features reflect the geometry of the Fermi surface and are sensitive to the form of the momentum dependence of the tunneling at the twisted interface. Close to $theta_0=45^circ$ we find that the critical current does not vanish due to Cooper pair cotunneling, which leads to a transition to a time-reversal breaking topological superconducting $d+id$ phase. Weak interface roughness, quasiperiodicity, and inhomogeneity broaden the momentum dependence of the interlayer tunneling leading to a critical current $I_csim cos(2theta_0)$ with $cos(6theta_0)$ corrections. Furthermore, strong disorder at the interface is demonstrated to suppress the time-reversal breaking superconducting phase near $theta_0=45^circ$. Last, we provide a comprehensive theoretical analysis of experiments that can reveal the full current-phase relation for twisted superconductors close to $theta_0=45^circ$. In particular, we demonstrate the emergence of the Fraunhofer interference pattern near $theta_0=45^circ$, while accounting for realistic sample geometries, and show that its temperature dependence can yield unambiguous evidence of Cooper pair cotunneling, necessary for topological superconductivity.
Twisted bilayers of high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductors have been argued to form topological phases with spontaneously broken time reversal symmetry ${cal T}$ for certain twist angles. With the goal of helping to identify unambiguous signatures of these topological phases in transport experiments, we theoretically investigate a suite of Josephson phenomena between twisted layers. We find an unusual non-monotonic temperature dependence of the critical current at intermediate twist angles which we attribute to the unconventional sign structure of the $d$-wave order parameter. The onset of the ${cal T}$-broken phase near $45^circ$ twist is marked by a crossover from the conventional $2pi$-periodic Josephson relation $J(varphi)simeq J_csin{varphi}$ to a $pi$-periodic function as the single-pair tunneling becomes dominated by a second order process that involves two Cooper pairs. Despite this fundamental change, the critical current remains a smooth function of the twist angle $theta$ and temperature $T$ implying that a measurement of $J_c$ alone will not be a litmus test for the ${cal T}$-broken phase. To obtain clear signatures of the ${cal T}$-broken phase one must measure $J_c$ in the presence of an applied magnetic field or radio-frequency drive, where the resulting Fraunhofer patterns and Shapiro steps are altered in a characteristic manner. We discuss these results in light of recent experiments on twisted bilayers of the high-$T_c$ cuprate superconductor Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+delta}$.
Recently, a honeycomb borophene was reported to grow successfully on Al(111) surface. Since the metallic $sigma$-bonding bands of honeycomb boron sheet play a crucial role in the 39 K superconductivity of MgB$_2$, it is physically interesting to examine whether similar property exists in this material. We have calculated the electronic structures and the electron-phonon coupling for honeycomb borophene by explicitly considering the substrate effect using first-principles density functional theory in conjunction with the Wannier interpolation technique. We find that the $sp^2$-hybridized $sigma$-bonding bands of honeycomb borophene are metallized due to moderate charge transfer from the Al substrate, similar as in MgB$_2$. However, the electron-phonon coupling in honeycomb borophene is much weaker than in MgB$_2$ due to the hardening of the bond-stretching boron phonon modes and the reduction of phonon density of states. Nevertheless, the interlayer coupling between Al-associated phonons and electrons in borophene is strong. Based on this observation, we predict that a 6.5 K superconducting transition can be observed in a free-standing borophene decorated by a single Al layer, namely monolayer AlB$_2$. Accordingly, similar superconducting transition temperature could be expected in honeycomb borophene on Al(111).
We combine electron beam lithography and masked anodization of epitaxial aluminium to define tunnel junctions via selective oxidation, alleviating the need for wet-etch processing or direct deposition of dielectric materials. Applying this technique to define Josephson junctions in proximity induced superconducting Al-InAs heterostructures, we observe multiple Andreev reflections in transport experiments, indicative of a high quality junction. We further compare the mobility and density of Hall-bars defined via wet etching and anodization. These results may find utility in uncovering new fabrication approaches to junction-based qubit platforms.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
