Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>A Josephson junction (JJ) couples the supercurrent flowing between two weakly linked superconductors to the phase difference between them via a current-phase relation (CPR). While a sinusoidal CPR is expected for conventional junctions with...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141854 |
| _version_ | 1826207771378319360 |
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| author | Trimble, CJ Wei, MT Yuan, NFQ Kalantre, SS Liu, P Han, H-J Han, M-G Zhu, Y Cha, JJ Fu, L Williams, JR |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Trimble, CJ Wei, MT Yuan, NFQ Kalantre, SS Liu, P Han, H-J Han, M-G Zhu, Y Cha, JJ Fu, L Williams, JR |
| author_sort | Trimble, CJ |
| collection | MIT |
| description | <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>A Josephson junction (JJ) couples the supercurrent flowing between two weakly linked superconductors to the phase difference between them via a current-phase relation (CPR). While a sinusoidal CPR is expected for conventional junctions with insulating weak links, devices made from some exotic materials may give rise to unconventional CPRs and unusual Josephson effects. In this work, we present such a case: we investigate the proximity-induced superconductivity in SnTe nanowires by incorporating them as weak links in JJs and observe a deviation from the standard CPR. We report on indications of an unexpected breaking of time-reversal symmetry in these devices, detailing the unconventional characteristics that reveal this behavior. These include an asymmetric critical current in the DC Josephson effect, a prominent second harmonic in the AC Josephson effect, and a magnetic diffraction pattern with a minimum in critical current at zero magnetic field. The analysis examines how multiband effects and the experimentally visualized ferroelectric domain walls give rise to this behavior, giving insight into the Josephson effect in materials that possess ferroelectricity and/or multiband superconductivity.</jats:p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:55:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/141854 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:55:00Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1418542023-02-03T20:25:40Z Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires Trimble, CJ Wei, MT Yuan, NFQ Kalantre, SS Liu, P Han, H-J Han, M-G Zhu, Y Cha, JJ Fu, L Williams, JR Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>A Josephson junction (JJ) couples the supercurrent flowing between two weakly linked superconductors to the phase difference between them via a current-phase relation (CPR). While a sinusoidal CPR is expected for conventional junctions with insulating weak links, devices made from some exotic materials may give rise to unconventional CPRs and unusual Josephson effects. In this work, we present such a case: we investigate the proximity-induced superconductivity in SnTe nanowires by incorporating them as weak links in JJs and observe a deviation from the standard CPR. We report on indications of an unexpected breaking of time-reversal symmetry in these devices, detailing the unconventional characteristics that reveal this behavior. These include an asymmetric critical current in the DC Josephson effect, a prominent second harmonic in the AC Josephson effect, and a magnetic diffraction pattern with a minimum in critical current at zero magnetic field. The analysis examines how multiband effects and the experimentally visualized ferroelectric domain walls give rise to this behavior, giving insight into the Josephson effect in materials that possess ferroelectricity and/or multiband superconductivity.</jats:p> 2022-04-12T13:57:45Z 2022-04-12T13:57:45Z 2021 2022-04-12T13:48:54Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141854 Trimble, CJ, Wei, MT, Yuan, NFQ, Kalantre, SS, Liu, P et al. 2021. "Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires." npj Quantum Materials, 6 (1). en 10.1038/S41535-021-00359-W npj Quantum Materials Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Springer Science and Business Media LLC Nature |
| spellingShingle | Trimble, CJ Wei, MT Yuan, NFQ Kalantre, SS Liu, P Han, H-J Han, M-G Zhu, Y Cha, JJ Fu, L Williams, JR Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires |
| title | Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires |
| title_full | Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires |
| title_fullStr | Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires |
| title_full_unstemmed | Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires |
| title_short | Josephson detection of time-reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in SnTe nanowires |
| title_sort | josephson detection of time reversal symmetry broken superconductivity in snte nanowires |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141854 |
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