arXiv subjects

Jukka I. Väyrynen

Publications and source records attributed to Jukka I. Väyrynen.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Microwave spectroscopy of Majorana vortex modes

The observation of zero-bias conductance peaks in vortex cores of certain Fe-based superconductors has sparked renewed interest in vortex-bound Majorana states. These materials are believed to be intrinsically topological in their bulk phase, thus avoiding potentially problematic interface physics encountered in superconductor-semiconductor heterostructures. However, progress toward a vortex-based topological qubit is hindered by our inability to measure the topological quantum state of a non-local vortex Majorana state, i.e., the charge of a vortex pair. In this paper, we theoretically propose a microwave-based charge parity readout of the Majorana vortex pair charge. A microwave resonator above the vortices can couple to the charge allowing for a dispersive readout of the Majorana parity. Our technique may also be used in vortices in conventional superconductors and allows one to probe the lifetime of vortex-bound quasiparticles, which is currently beyond existing scanning tunneling microscopy capabilities.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Topological symplectic Kondo effect

Multiple conduction channels interacting with a quantum impurity -- a spin in the conventional ``multi-channel Kondo effect'' or a topological mesoscopic device (``topological Kondo effect'') -- has been proposed as a platform to realize anyonic quasi-particles. However, the above implementations require either perfect channel symmetry or the use of Majorana fermions. Here we propose a Majorana-free mesoscopic setup which implements the Kondo effect of the symplectic Lie group and can harbor emergent anyons (including Majorana fermions, Fibonacci anyons, and $\mathbb Z_3$ parafermions) even in the absence of perfect channel symmetry. In addition to the detailed prescription of the implementation, we present the strong coupling solution by mapping the model to the multi-channel Kondo effect associated to an internal $SU(2)$ symmetry and exploit conformal field theory (CFT) to predict the non-trivial scaling of a variety of observables, including conductance, as a function of temperature. This work does not only open the door for robust Kondo-based anyon platforms, but also sheds light on the physics of strongly correlated materials with competing order parameters.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Superconducting diode effect in quasi-one-dimensional systems

The recent observations of the superconducting diode effect pose the challenge to fully understand the necessary ingredients for non-reciprocal phenomena in superconductors. In this theoretical work, we focus on the non-reciprocity of the critical current in a quasi-one-dimensional superconductor. We define the critical current as the value of the supercurrent at which the quasiparticle excitation gap closes (depairing). Once the critical current is exceeded, the quasiparticles can exchange energy with the superconducting condensate, giving rise to dissipation. Our minimal model can be microscopically derived as a low-energy limit of a Rashba spin-orbit coupled superconductor in a Zeeman field. Within the proposed model, we explore the nature of the non-reciprocal effects of the critical current both analytically and numerically. Our results quantify how system parameters such as spin-orbit coupling and quantum confinement affect the strength of the superconducting diode effect. Our theory provides a complementary description to Ginzburg-Landau theories of the effect.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2023

Multichannel topological Kondo effect

A Coulomb blockaded $M$-Majorana island coupled to normal metal leads realizes a novel type of Kondo effect where the effective impurity "spin" transforms under the orthogonal group $SO(M)$. The impurity spin stems from the non-local topological ground state degeneracy of the island and thus the effect is known as the topological Kondo effect. We introduce a physically motivated $N$-channel generalization of the topological Kondo model. Starting from the simplest case $N=2$, we conjecture a stable intermediate coupling fixed point and evaluate the resulting low-temperature impurity entropy. The impurity entropy indicates that an emergent Fibonacci anyon can be realized in the $N=2$ model. We also map the case $N=2$, $M=4$ to the conventional 4-channel Kondo model and find the conductance at the intermediate fixed point. By using the perturbative renormalization group, we also analyze the large-$N$ limit, where the fixed point moves to weak coupling. In the isotropic limit, we find an intermediate stable fixed point, which is stable to "exchange" coupling anisotropies, but unstable to channel anisotropy. We evaluate the fixed point impurity entropy and conductance to obtain experimentally observable signatures of our results. In the large-$N$ limit we evaluate the full cross over function describing the temperature-dependent conductance.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2022

A Platform for Braiding Majorana Modes with Magnetic Skyrmions

After a decade of intense theoretical and experimental efforts, demonstrating braiding of Majorana modes remains an unsolved problem in condensed matter physics due to platform specific challenges. In this work, we propose topological superconductor -- magnetic multilayer heterostructures with on-chip microwave cavity readout as a novel platform for initializing, braiding and reading out Majorana modes. Stray fields from a skyrmion in the magnetic layers can nucleate a vortex in the topological superconducting layer. Such a vortex is known to host Majorana bound states at its core. Through analytical calculations within London and Thiele formalisms, and through micromagnetic simulations, we show that our nucleation and braiding scheme can be effectively realized with a variety of existing options for magnetic and superconducting layers. Further, we show that the coupling of the Majorana bound states to electric field of a resonator leads to an experimentally observable parity-dependent dispersive shift of the resonator frequency. Our work paves the way for realizing Majorana braiding in the near future.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Theory of Glide Symmetry Protected Helical Edge States in WTe$_{2}$ Monolayer

Helical edge states in quantum spin Hall (QSH) materials are central building blocks of topological matter design and engineering. Despite their principal topological protection against elastic backscattering, the level of operational stability depends on manifold parameters such as the band gap of the given semiconductor system in the 'inverted' regime, temperature, disorder, and crystal orientation. We theoretically investigate electronic and transport properties of QSH edge states in large gap 1-T' WTe$_{2}$ monolayers. We explore the impact of edge termination, disorder, temperature, and interactions on experimentally addressable edge state observables, such as local density of states and conductance. We show that conductance quantization can remain surprisingly robust even for heavily disordered samples because of an anomalously small edge state decay length and additional protection related to the large direct gap allowed by glide symmetry. From the simulation of temperature-dependent resistance, we find that moderate disorder enhances the stability of conductance by localizing bulk states. We evaluate the edge state velocity and Luttinger liquid parameter as functions of the chemical potential, finding prospects for physics beyond linear helical Luttinger liquids in samples with ultra-clean and well-defined edges.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Edge spin transport in the disordered two-dimensional topological insulator WTe$_2$

The spin conductance of two-dimensional topological insulators (2D TIs) is not expected to be quantized in the presence of perturbations that break the spin-rotational symmetry. However, the deviation from the pristine-limit quantization has yet to be studied in detail. In this paper, we define the spin current operator for the helical edge modes of a 2D TI and introduce a four-terminal setup to measure spin conductances. Using the developed formalism, we consider the effects of disorder terms that break spin-rotational symmetry or give rise to edge-to-edge coupling. We identify a key role played by spin torque in an out-of-equilibrium edge. We then utilize a tight-binding model of topological monolayer WTe$_2$ and scattering matrix formalism to numerically study spin transport in a four-terminal 2D TI device. In particular, we calculate the spin conductances and characteristic spin decay length in the presence of magnetic disorder. In addition, we study the effects of inter-edge scattering in a quantum point contact geometry. We find that the spin Hall conductance is surprisingly robust to spin symmetry-breaking perturbations, as long as time-reversal symmetry is preserved and inter-edge scattering is weak.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Superconductivity of neutral modes in quantum Hall edges

Edges of quantum Hall phases give rise to a multitude of exotic modes supporting quasiparticles of different values of charge and quantum statistics. Among these are neutralons (chargeless anyons with semion statistics), which were found to be ubiquitous in fractional quantum Hall matter. Studying and manipulating the neutral sector is an intriguing and interesting challenge, all the more so since these particles are accessible experimentally. Here we address the limit of strongly-interacting neutralons giving rise to neutralon superconductivity, where pairing is replaced by a quarteting mechanism. We discuss several manifestations of this effect, realizable in existing experimental platforms. Furthermore, this superconducting gapping mechanism may be exploited to facilitate the observation of interference of the accompanying charged anyons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Majorana signatures in charge transport through a topological superconducting double-island system

We investigate the dynamics of a charge qubit consisting of two Coulomb-blockaded islands hosting Majorana zero modes. The frequency of the qubit is determined by coherent single-electron tunneling between two islands originating from the hybridization of two Majorana zero modes localized at the junction. We calculate the sequential tunneling current $I$ through the double-island device coupled to normal metal leads. We demonstrate that the $I\!-\!V$ characteristics in the large-bias regime can be used as a measurement of the coherent Majorana coupling $E_M$. We propose dc and ac transport experiments for measuring $E_M$, and discuss their limitations due to intrinsic dephasing mechanisms such as excited quasiparticles.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Comparing tunneling spectroscopy and charge sensing of Andreev bound states in a semiconductor-superconductor hybrid nanowire structure

Transport studies of Andreev bound states (ABSs) are complicated by the interplay of charging effects and superconductivity. Here, we compare transport approaches to ABS spectroscopy in a semiconductor-superconductor island to a charge-sensing approach based on an integrated radio-frequency single-electron transistor. Consistency of the methods demonstrates that fast, non-invasive charge sensing allows accurate quantitative measurement of ABSs while eluding some complexities of transport.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Number conserving analysis of measurement-based braiding with Majorana zero modes

Majorana-based quantum computation seeks to encode information non-locally in pairs of Majorana zero modes, thereby isolating qubit states from a local noisy environment. In addition to long coherence times, the attractiveness of Majorana-based quantum computing relies on achieving topologically protected Clifford gates from braiding operations. Recent works have conjectured that mean-field BCS calculations may fail to account for non-universal corrections to the Majorana braiding operations. Such errors would be detrimental to Majorana-based topological quantum computing schemes. In this work, we develop a particle-number conserving approach for measurement-based topological quantum computing and investigate the effect of quantum phase fluctuations. We demonstrate that braiding transformations are indeed topologically protected in charge-protected Majorana-based quantum computing schemes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Superconducting correlations out of repulsive interactions on a fractional quantum Hall edge

We consider a fractional quantum Hall bilayer system with an interface between quantum Hall states of filling fractions $(ν_{\text{top}},ν_{\text{bottom}})=(1,1)$ and $(1/3,2)$, motivated by a recent approach to engineering artificial edges~\cite{2018NatPh..14..411R}. We show that random tunneling and strong repulsive interactions within one of the layers will drive the system to a stable fixed point with two counterpropagating charge modes which have attractive interactions. As a result, slowly decaying correlations on the edge become predominantly superconducting. We discuss the resulting observable effects, and derive general requirements for electron attraction in Abelian quantum Hall states. The broader interest in fractional quantum Hall edge with quasi-long range superconducting order lies in the prospects of hosting exotic anyonic boundary excitations, that may serve as a platform for topological quantum computation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Probing and dressing magnetic impurities in a superconductor

We propose a method to probe and control the interactions between an ensemble of magnetic impurities in a superconductor via microwave radiation. Our method relies upon the presence of sub-gap Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR) states associated with the impurities. Depending on the sign of the detuning, radiation generates either a ferro- or antiferromagnetic contribution to the exchange interaction. This contribution can bias the statistics of the random exchange constants stemming from the RKKY interaction. Moreover, by measuring the microwave response at the YSR resonance, one gains information about the magnetic order of the impurities. To this end, we estimate the absorption coefficient as well as the achievable strength of the microwave-induced YSR-interactions using off-resonant radiation. The ability to utilize microwave fields to both probe and control impurity spins in a superconducting host may open new paths to studying metallic spin glasses.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Photon Assisted Tunneling of Zero Modes in a Majorana Wire

Hybrid nanowires with proximity-induced superconductivity in the topological regime host Majorana zero modes (MZMs) at their ends, and networks of such structures can produce topologically protected qubits. In a double-island geometry where each segment hosts a pair of MZMs, inter-pair coupling mixes the charge parity of the islands and opens an energy gap between the even and odd charge states at the inter-island charge degeneracy. Here, we report on the spectroscopic measurement of such an energy gap in an InAs/Al double-island device by tracking the position of the microwave-induced quasiparticle (qp) transitions using a radio-frequency (rf) charge sensor. In zero magnetic field, photon assisted tunneling (PAT) of Cooper pairs gives rise to resonant lines in the 2e-2e periodic charge stability diagram. In the presence of a magnetic field aligned along the nanowire, resonance lines are observed parallel to the inter-island charge degeneracy of the 1e-1e periodic charge stability diagram, where the 1e periodicity results from a zero-energy sub-gap state that emerges in magnetic field. Resonant lines in the charge stability diagram indicate coherent photon assisted tunneling of single-electron states, changing the parity of the two islands. The dependence of resonant frequency on detuning indicates a sizable (GHz-scale) hybridization of zero modes across the junction separating islands.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Noise-induced backscattering in a quantum-spin-Hall edge

Time-reversal symmetry suppresses electron backscattering in a quantum-spin-Hall edge, yielding quantized conductance at zero temperature. Understanding the dominant corrections in finite-temperature experiments remains an unsettled issue. We study a novel mechanism for conductance suppression: backscattering caused by incoherent electromagnetic noise. Specifically, we show that an electric potential fluctuating randomly in time can backscatter electrons inelastically without constraints faced by electron-electron interactions. We quantify noise-induced corrections to the dc conductance in various regimes and propose an experiment to test this scenario.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Microwave spectroscopy of spinful Andreev bound states in ballistic semiconductor Josephson junctions

The superconducting proximity effect in semiconductor nanowires has recently enabled the study of new superconducting architectures, such as gate-tunable superconducting qubits and multiterminal Josephson junctions. As opposed to their metallic counterparts, the electron density in semiconductor nanosystems is tunable by external electrostatic gates providing a highly scalable and in-situ variation of the device properties. In addition, semiconductors with large $g$-factor and spin-orbit coupling have been shown to give rise to exotic phenomena in superconductivity, such as $φ_0$ Josephson junctions and the emergence of Majorana bound states. Here, we report microwave spectroscopy measurements that directly reveal the presence of Andreev bound states (ABS) in ballistic semiconductor channels. We show that the measured ABS spectra are the result of transport channels with gate-tunable, high transmission probabilities up to $0.9$, which is required for gate-tunable Andreev qubits and beneficial for braiding schemes of Majorana states. For the first time, we detect excitations of a spin-split pair of ABS and observe symmetry-broken ABS, a direct consequence of the spin-orbit coupling in the semiconductor.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Magnetic moments in a helical edge can make weak correlations seem strong

We study the effect of localized magnetic moments on the conductance of a helical edge. Interaction with a local moment is an effective backscattering mechanism for the edge electrons. We evaluate the resulting differential conductance as a function of temperature $T$ and applied bias $V$ for any value of $V/T$. Backscattering off magnetic moments, combined with the weak repulsion between the edge electrons results in a power-law temperature and voltage dependence of the conductance; the corresponding small positive exponent is indicative of insulating behavior. Local moments may naturally appear due to charge disorder in a narrow-gap semiconductor. Our results provide an alternative interpretation of the recent experiment by Li et al. \cite{Li15} where a power-law suppression of the conductance was attributed to strong electron repulsion within the edge, with the value of Luttinger liquid parameter $K$ fine-tuned close to $1/4$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Current noise from a magnetic moment in a helical edge

We calculate the two-terminal current noise generated by a magnetic moment coupled to a helical edge of a two-dimensional topological insulator. When the system is symmetric with respect to in-plane spin rotation, the noise is dominated by the Nyquist component even in the presence of a voltage bias $V$. The corresponding noise spectrum $S(V,ω)$ is determined by a modified fluctuation-dissipation theorem with the differential conductance $G(V,ω)$ in place of the linear one. The differential noise $\partial S/ \partial V$, commonly measured in experiments, is strongly dependent on frequency on a small scale $τ_{K}^{-1}\ll T$ set by the Korringa relaxation rate of the local moment. This is in stark contrast with the case of conventional mesoscopic conductors where $\partial S/ \partial V$ is frequency-independent and defined by the shot noise. In a helical edge, a violation of the spin-rotation symmetry leads to the shot noise, which becomes important only at a high bias. Uncharacteristically for a fermion system, this noise in the backscattered current is super-Poissonian.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗