Supercurrent Interference in Few-Mode Nanowire Josephson Junctions
K. Zuo (TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab, QN/Quantum Transport, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre)
V. Mourik (University of New South Wales, TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, QN/Quantum Transport)
D.B. Szombati (4Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, University of Queensland)
B. Nijholt (TU Delft - QN/Akhmerov Group, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)
David Van Woerkom (Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, ETH Zürich)
A. Geresdi (TU Delft - QRD/Geresdi Lab, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)
Jun Chen (University of Pittsburgh)
V. P. Ostroukh (Universiteit Leiden)
Anton Akhmerov (TU Delft - QN/Akhmerov Group, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)
S.R. Plissard (Eindhoven University of Technology, QN/Quantum Transport, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)
D. Car (TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab, Eindhoven University of Technology, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)
Erik Bakkers (TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, QN/Bakkers Lab, Eindhoven University of Technology)
Dmitry I. Pikulin (University of British Columbia, Quantum Matter Institute)
Leo Kouwenhoven (TU Delft - QRD/Kouwenhoven Lab, Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, TU Delft - QuTech Advanced Research Centre, TU Delft - QN/Kouwenhoven Lab, Microsoft Quantum Lab Delft)
S.M. Frolov (QN/Quantum Transport, University of Pittsburgh)
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Abstract
Junctions created by coupling two superconductors via a semiconductor nanowire in the presence of high magnetic fields are the basis for the potential detection, fusion, and braiding of Majorana bound states. We study NbTiN/InSb nanowire/NbTiN Josephson junctions and find that the dependence of the critical current on the magnetic field exhibits gate-tunable nodes. This is in contrast with a well-known Fraunhofer effect, under which critical current nodes form a regular pattern with a period fixed by the junction area. Based on a realistic numerical model we conclude that the Zeeman effect induced by the magnetic field and the spin-orbit interaction in the nanowire are insufficient to explain the observed evolution of the Josephson effect. We find the interference between the few occupied one-dimensional modes in the nanowire to be the dominant mechanism responsible for the critical current behavior. We also report a strong suppression of critical currents at finite magnetic fields that should be taken into account when designing circuits based on Majorana bound states.