Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling in Superconducting Junctions of β-Ag${}_2$Se Topological Insulator Nanowire

Abstract

We report on the fabrication and electrical transport properties of superconducting junctions made of β-Ag${}_2$Se topological insulator (TI) nanowires in contact with Al superconducting electrodes. The temperature dependence of the critical current indicates that the superconducting junction belongs to a short and diffusive junction regime. As a characteristic feature of the narrow junction, the critical current decreases monotonously with increasing magnetic field. The stochastic distribution of the switching current exhibits the macroscopic quantum tunneling behavior, which is robust up to T = 0.8 K. Our observations indicate that the TI nanowire-based Josephson junctions can be a promising building block for the development of nanohybrid superconducting quantum bits.

arXiv comment27 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (35)

• Topological Insulators
• Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator
• New directions in the pursuit of Majorana fermions in solid state systems
• Search for Majorana fermions in superconductors
• Bipolar supercurrent in graphene
• Observation of the fractional ac Josephson effect: the signature of Majorana particles
• Topological Surface States Protected From Backscattering by Chiral Spin Texture
• Tunable Supercurrent Through Semiconductor Nanowires
• A Semiconductor Nanowire-Based Superconducting Qubit
• $4\pi$-periodic Josephson supercurrent in HgTe-based topological Josephson junctions
• Quantum supercurrent transistors in carbon nanotubes
• Unconventional Josephson Effect in Hybrid Superconductor-Topological Insulator Devices
• Josephson supercurrent through a topological insulator surface state
• Gapless Andreev bound states in the quantum spin Hall insulator HgTe
• Gate-tuned normal and superconducting transport at the surface of a topological insulator
• Majorana Fermions in Proximity-coupled Topological Insulator Nanowires
• Realization of microwave quantum circuits using hybrid superconducting-semiconducting nanowire Josephson elements
• Edge-mode Superconductivity in a Two Dimensional Topological Insulator
• Strong Superconducting Proximity Effect in Pb-Bi2Te3 Hybrid Structures
• Symmetry Protected Josephson Supercurrents in Three-Dimensional Topological Insulators
• Evidence for an anomalous current phase relation in topological insulator Josephson junctions
• Magnetic Interference Patterns and Vortices in Diffusive SNS junctions
• Collapse of thermal activation in moderately damped Josephson junctions
• Observation of Supercurrent in PbIn-Graphene-PbIn Josephson Junction
• Josephson supercurrent through the topological surface states of strained bulk HgTe
• Electrically Tunable Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling in a Graphene-based Josephson Junction
• Crossover from Kramers to phase-diffusion switching in hysteretic DC-SQUIDs
• Influence of Topological Edge States on the Properties of Al/Bi2Se3/Al Hybrid Josephson Devices
• Charge transport in InAs nanowire Josephson junctions
• Robust Transport Signatures of Topological Superconductivity in Topological Insulator Nanowires
• Quantum electronic transport of topological surface states in beta-Ag2Se nanowire
• Josephson supercurrent in Nb/InN-nanowire/Nb junctions
• Very Strong Superconducting Proximity Effects in PbS Semiconductor Nanowires
• Origin of Hysteresis in a Proximity Josephson Junction
• Switching current distributions in InAs nanowire Josephson junctions

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Electrostatic control of phase slips in Ti Josephson nanotransistors
• Conditions for fully gapped topological superconductivity in topological insulator nanowires
• Measurements of Phase Dynamics in Planar Josephson Junctions and SQUIDs
• Hopping conductance and macroscopic quantum tunneling effect in three dimensional Pb${}_x$(SiO${}_2$)${}_{1-x}$ nanogranular films
• Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices Made of Sb-doped Bi2Se3 Topological Insulator Nanoribbons
• Flipping coin experiment for studying switching in Josephson junctions and superconducting wires
• Optimal Conditions for Observing Fractional Josephson Effect in Topological Josephson Junctions