Evidence of $\varphi$0-Josephson junction from skewed diffraction patterns in Sn-InSb nanowires

Abstract

We study Josephson junctions based on InSb nanowires with Sn shells. We observe skewed critical current diffraction patterns: the maxima in forward and reverse current bias are at different magnetic flux, with a displacement of 20-40 mT. The skew is greatest when the external field is nearly perpendicular to the nanowire, in the substrate plane. This orientation suggests that spin-orbit interaction plays a role. We develop a phenomenological model and perform tight-binding calculations, both methods reproducing the essential features of the experiment. The effect modeled is the $\varphi$0-Josephson junction with higher-order Josephson harmonics. The system is of interest for Majorana studies: the effects are either precursor to or concomitant with topological superconductivity. Current-phase relations that lack inversion symmetry can also be used to design quantum circuits with engineered nonlinearity.

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Unconventional Josephson supercurrent diode effect induced by chiral spin-orbit coupling
• Effect of 2${}^{\text{nd}}$ harmonic current--phase relation on a behavior of a Josephson Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifier
• Fermionic Quantum Simulation on Andreev Bound State Superlattices
• Predicted third-order sweet spots for phi-junction Josephson parametric amplifiers