Supercurrent Interference in Few-Mode Nanowire Josephson Junctions

Kun Zuo, Vincent Mourik, Daniel B. Szombati, Bas Nijholt, David J. Van Woerkom, Attila Geresdi, Jun Chen, Viacheslav P. Ostroukh, Anton R. Akhmerov, Sebastién R. Plissard, Diana Car, Erik P.A.M. Bakkers, Dmitry I. Pikulin, Leo P. Kouwenhoven, Sergey M. Frolov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

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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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number187704
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume119
Issue number18
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Nov 2017

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