Parity lifetime of bound states in a proximitized semiconductor nanowire

A. P. Higginbotham; S. M. Albrecht; G. Kirsanskas; W. Chang; F. Kuemmeth; P. Krogstrup; T. S. Jespersen; J. Nygard; K. Flensberg; C. M. Marcus

doi:10.1038/nphys3461

arXiv · 1501.05155

Parity lifetime of bound states in a proximitized semiconductor nanowire

A. P. Higginbotham·S. M. Albrecht·G. Kirsanskas·W. Chang·F. Kuemmeth·P. Krogstrup·T. S. Jespersen·J. Nygard·K. Flensberg·C. M. Marcus

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Abstract

Quasiparticle excitations can compromise the performance of superconducting devices, causing high frequency dissipation, decoherence in Josephson qubits, and braiding errors in proposed Majorana-based topological quantum computers. Quasiparticle dynamics have been studied in detail in metallic superconductors but remain relatively unexplored in semiconductor-superconductor structures, which are now being intensely pursued in the context of topological superconductivity. To this end, we introduce a new physical system comprised of a gate-confined semiconductor nanowire with an epitaxially grown superconductor layer, yielding an isolated, proximitized nanowire segment. We identify Andreev-like bound states in the semiconductor via bias spectroscopy, determine the characteristic temperatures and magnetic fields for quasiparticle excitations, and extract a parity lifetime (poisoning time) of the bound state in the semiconductor exceeding 10 ms.

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A. P. Higginbotham, S. M. Albrecht, G. Kirsanskas, W. Chang, F. Kuemmeth, P. Krogstrup, T. S. Jespersen, J. Nygard, K. Flensberg, C. M. Marcus. 2015-01-21. Parity lifetime of bound states in a proximitized semiconductor nanowire. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3461

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