Superconducting islands and gate-based readout in semiconductor nanowires

Abstract

Quantum computers can solve some problems exponentially faster than classical computers. Unfortunately, the computational power of quantum computers is currently limited by the number of working qubits. It is difficult to scale up these systems, because qubits are easily affected by noise in their environment. This noise leads to decoherence: loss of the qubit’s encoded information. A possible solution to diminish decoherence is using Majorana box qubits, as these qubits are predicted to be insensitive to local noise. However, this promising type of qubit does not exist yet.

With the research described in this thesis, we aim to contribute to the development of Majorana box qubits (MBQs). In these qubits, Majorana zero modes, the basic elements of MBQs, are contained within a superconducting island to suppress Majorana parity fluctuations caused by quasiparticle poisoning. To enable parity readout of the MBQ, these modes are coupled to quantum dots within a nanowire network.
To help realize MBQs, we need a better understanding of quasiparticles in superconducting islands, parity-readout techniques, and ways to fabricate nanowire networks. These three aspects are the focus of the experiments presented in this thesis.

To study superconducting islands and readout techniques, we used InAs semiconductor nanowires with an epitaxially grown Al shell. Majorana signatures have already been observed in such nanowires. We addressed quasiparticle dynamics in superconducting islands by measuring the gate-charge modulation of the switching current. We found a consistent 2e-periodic modulation at zero magnetic field, and an exponential decrease of parity lifetime with increasing magnetic field. We explored MBQ readout, using a quantum dot level as a proxy for a Majorana zero mode, and measured its charge hybridization with another dot using gate-based readout. We showed that we can rapidly discriminate between two settings with different tunnel couplings, demonstrating the potential of gate-based readout to measure MBQs. And, using gate-based readout, we could study charge-transfer processes occurring in hybrid structures of superconducting islands coupled to quantum dots.

Finally, to find a good material platform for nanowire networks, we characterized two two-dimensional systems. We realized quantum point contacts in InSb, which we used to measure the $g$-factor anisotropy, and effective electron mass in this system. And, we studied the spin-orbit interaction in InAs/GaSb by extracting the difference in density between electrons with different spin orientations.

This thesis finishes with a proposal for a series experiments to realize MBQs. These experiments make use of superconducting islands and the reflectometry setup we developed for gate-based readout.