arXiv subjects

Luca Chirolli

Publications and source records attributed to Luca Chirolli.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

SWAP gate between a Majorana qubit and a parity-protected superconducting qubit

High fidelity quantum information processing requires a combination of fast gates and long-lived quantum memories. In this work, we propose a hybrid architecture, where a parity-protected superconducting qubit is directly coupled to a Majorana qubit, which plays the role of a quantum memory. The superconducting qubit is based upon a $π$-periodic Josephson junction realized with gate-tunable semiconducting wires, where the tunneling of individual Cooper pairs is suppressed. One of the wires additionally contains four Majorana zero modes that define a qubit. We demonstrate that this enables the implementation of a SWAP gate, allowing for the transduction of quantum information between the topological and conventional qubit. This architecture combines fast gates, which can be realized with the superconducting qubit, with a topologically protected Majorana memory.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Frustration driven Josephson phase dynamics

The Josephson equations predict remarkable effects concerning the phase state of a superconducting junction with an oscillating current induced by a static voltage. Whether the paradigm can be twisted by yielding an oscillating voltage without making use of harmonic drives is a fundamentally relevant problem yet not fully settled. Here, we demonstrate that a dynamical regime with an oscillating phase evolution is a general hallmark of driven Josephson systems exhibiting sign competition in the Josephson couplings. We show that in frustrated Josephson systems an oscillating phase dynamics gets switched on by driving the changeover among different ground states, which can be induced by varying the parameters that set the phase state. Remarkably, the character of the transitions in the Josephson phase space allows different types of dynamics, with few or several harmonics. This result sets out a characteristic mark of any superconducting system with frustrated Josephson couplings and can be exploited to disentangle the complexity of the underlying phases.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Anyons in Quantum Hall Interferometry

The quantum Hall (QH) effect represents a unique playground where quantum coherence of electrons can be exploited for various applications, from metrology to quantum computation. In the fractional regime it also hosts anyons, emergent quasiparticles that are neither bosons nor fermions and possess fractional statistics. Their detection and manipulation represent key milestones in view of topologically protected quantum computation schemes. Exploiting the high degree of phase coherence, edge states in the QH regime have been investigated by designing and constructing electronic interferometers, able to reveal the coherence and statistical properties of the interfering constituents. Here, we review the two main geometries developed in the QH regime, the Mach-Zehnder and the Fabry-Perot interferometers. We present their basic working principles, fabrication methods, and the main results obtained both in the integer and fractional QH regime. We will also show how recent technological advances led to the direct experimental demonstration of fractional statistics for Laughlin quasiparticles in a Fabry-Perot interferometric setup.

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arXiv2020

Impact of electrostatic fields in layered crystalline BCS superconductors

Motivated by recent experiments reporting the suppression of the critical current in superconducting Dayem bridges by the application of strong electrostatic fields, in this work we study the impact on the superconducting gap of charge redistribution in response to an applied electric field in thin crystalline metals. By numerically solving the BCS gap equation and the Poisson equation in a fully self-consistent way, we find that by reducing the pairing strength we observe an increased sensitivity of the gap on the applied field, showing sudden rises and falls that are compatible with surface modifications of the local density of states. The effect is washed out by increasing the pairing strength towards the weak-to-moderate coupling limit or by introduction of a weak smearing in the density of states, showing the evolution from a clean crystal to a weakly disordered metal.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Enhanced coherence in superconducting circuits via band engineering

In superconducting circuits interrupted by Josephson junctions, the dependence of the energy spectrum on offset charges on different islands is $2e$ periodic through the Aharonov-Casher effect and resembles a crystal band structure that reflects the symmetries of the Josephson potential. We show that higher-harmonic Josephson elements described by a $\cos(2φ)$ energy-phase relation provide an increased freedom to tailor the shape of the Josephson potential and design spectra featuring multiplets of flat bands and Dirac points in the charge Brillouin zone. Flat bands provide noise-insensitive quantum states, and band engineering can help improve the coherence of the system. We discuss a modified version of a flux qubit that achieves in principle no decoherence from charge noise and introduce a flux qutrit that shows a spin-one Dirac spectrum and is simultaneously quote robust to both charge and flux noise.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Surface chiral superconductivity in odd-parity nematic superconductors with magnetic impurities

We study odd-parity nematic superconductivity in doped topological insulators in presence of surface magnetic impurities. The peculiar surface subgap spectrum, characterized by a Majorana flatband, nodal cones and the surface states of the parent topological insulator, gives rise to an overall ferromagnetic RKKY interactions between the surface impurities. An additional coupling between the impurities and a preemptive chiral order parameter promote a surface time-reversal symmetry breaking solution at the surface of the system. We discuss the relevant scenarios and suggest to engineer surface chiral superconductivity by properly choosing magnetic adatoms with highly anisotropic exchange coupling.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2020

Double single-channel Kondo coupling in graphene with Fe molecules

We study the interaction between graphene and a single-molecule-magnet, [Fe4(L)2(dpm)6]. Focusing on the closest Iron ion in a hollow position with respect to the graphene sheet, we derive a channel selective tunneling Hamiltonian, that couples different d orbitals of the Iron atom to precise independent combinations of sublattice and valley degrees of freedom of the electrons in graphene. When looking at the spin-spin interaction between the molecule and the graphene electrons, close to the Dirac point the channel selectivity results in a channel decoupling of the Kondo interaction, with two almost independent Kondo systems weakly interacting among themselves. The formation of magnetic moments and the development of a full Kondo effect depends on the charge state of the graphene layer.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Brightening odd-parity excitons in transition-metal dichalcogenides: Rashba spin-orbit interaction, skyrmions, and cavity polaritons

Odd-angular momentum exciton states are dark to light in monolayers of transition-metal dichalcogenides and can be addressed only by two-photon probes. Besides, $2p$ excitons states are expected to show a fine splitting that arises from the peculiar electronic band structure of the material, characterized by a finite Berry curvature around each valley. In this work we study in detail the coupling of photons to $p$ exciton states and we find that the Rashba spin-orbit interaction or a Skyrmion in the transition-metal dichalcogenide substrate can be exploited to engineer finite optical selection rules. The basis mechanism relies on a matching of the exciton angular momentum with the winding of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction or the Skyrmion topological charge. In a photonic cavity, the coupling is enhanced due to photon confinement and the resulting polaritonic branches acquire a mixing with $2p^\pm$ excitons, thus providing a useful tool to detect exciton fine-splitting and and enable novel uses of odd-parity dark excitons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Signatures of surface Majorana modes in the magnetic response of topological superconductors

We study the magnetic susceptibility of a two-dimensional cone of Majorana modes localised at the surface of a three-dimensional time-reversal invariant topological superconductor belonging to class DIII. A field parallel to the surface tilts the surface Majorana cone along the supercurrent direction. For fields larger than a critical threshold field $H^*$, $H>H^*$, a transition from type I to type II Dirac cone occurs and a finite current carried by the Majorana modes start to flow, leading to an additional diamagnetic contribution to the surface magnetization. On a curved surface interband transitions are promoted by the Majorana spin connection that couples to the external field, giving rise to a finite frequency magnetic susceptibility.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Magnetic tilting and emergent Majorana spin connection in topological superconductors

Due to the charge neutral and localized nature of surface Majorana modes, detection schemes usually rely on local spectroscopy or interference through the Josephson effect. Here, we theoretically study the magnetic response of a two-dimensional cone of Majorana fermions localized at the surface of class DIII Topological Superconductors. For a field parallel to the surface the Zeeman term vanishes and the orbital term induces a Doppler shift of the Andreev levels resulting in a tilting of the surface Majorana cone. For fields larger than a critical threshold field $H^*$ the system undergoes a transition from type I to type II Dirac-Majorana cone. In a spherical geometry the surface curvature leads to the emergence of the Majorana spin connection in the tilting term via an interplay between orbital and Zeeman, that generates a finite non-trivial coupling between negative and positive energy states. Majorana modes are thus expected to show a finite response to the applied field, that acquires a universal character in finite geometries and opens the way to detection of Majorana modes via time-dependent magnetic fields.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Chiral Superconductivity in Thin Films of doped Bi$_2$Se$_3$

Recent experimental evidences point to rotation symmetry breaking superconductivity in doped Bi$_2$Se$_3$, where the relevant order parameter belongs to a two-component odd-parity representation $E_u$ of the crystal point group. The $E_u$ channel admits two possible phases, the chiral phase, that breaks time-reversal symmetry, and nematic phase, that well explains the reported rotation symmetry breaking. In weakly anisotropic three-dimensional systems the nematic phase is the stable one. We study the stability of the nematic phase versus the chiral phase as a function of the anisotropy of the system and the thickness of the sample and show that in the strongly anisotropic case or in thin slabs the chiral phases is favoured. For the extreme 2D limit composed by a single layer of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ the system hosts two chiral Majorana modes flowing at the boundary of the system.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2018

Chiral Majorana Interference as a Source of Quantum Entanglement

Interferometry is a powerful tool for entanglement production and detection in multiterminal mesoscopic systems. Here we propose a setup to produce, manipulate and detect entanglement in the electron-hole degree of freedom by exploiting Andreev reflection on chiral one-dimensional channels via interferometry. We study the best possible case in which two-particle interferometry produces superpositions of maximally entangled states. This is achieved by mixing chiral Dirac channels through chiral Majorana modes. We show that it is possible to extract entanglement witnesses through current cross-correlation measurements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Theory of 2D crystals: graphene and beyond

This tutorial review presents an overview of the basic theoretical aspects of two-dimensional (2D) crystals. We revise essential aspects of graphene and the new families of semiconducting 2D materials, like transition metal dichalcogenides or black phosphorus. Minimal theoretical models for various materials are presented. Some of the exciting new possibilities offered by 2D crystals are discussed, such as manipulation and control of quantum degrees of freedom (spin and pseudospin), confinement of excitons, control of the electronic and optical properties with strain engineering, or unconventional superconducting phases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Time-reversal and rotation symmetry breaking superconductivity in Dirac materials

We consider mixed symmetry superconducting phases in Dirac materials in the odd parity channel, where pseudoscalar and vector order parameters can coexist due to their similar critical temperatures when attractive interactions are of finite range. We show that the coupling of these order parameters to unordered magnetic dopants favors the condensation of novel time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB) phases, characterized by a condensate magnetization, rotation symmetry breaking, and simultaneous ordering of the dopant moments. We find a rich phase diagram of mixed TRSB phases characterized by peculiar bulk quasiparticles, with Weyl nodes and nodal lines, and distinctive surface states. These findings are consistent with recent experiments on Nb$_x$Bi$_2$Se$_3$ that report evidence of point nodes, nematicity, and TRSB superconductivity induced by Nb magnetic moments.

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arXiv2016

Enhanced superconductivity in atomically thin TaS2

The ability to exfoliate layered materials down to the single layer limit has opened the opportunity to understand how a gradual reduction in dimensionality affects the properties of bulk materials. Here we use this top-down approach to address the problem of superconductivity in the two-dimensional limit. The transport properties of electronic devices based on 2H tantalum disulfide flakes of different thicknesses are presented. We observe that superconductivity persists down to the thinnest layer investigated (3.5 nm), and interestingly, we find a pronounced enhancement in the critical temperature from 0.5 K to 2.2 K as the layers are thinned down. In addition, we propose a tight-binding model, which allows us to attribute this phenomenon to an enhancement of the effective electron-phonon coupling constant. This work provides evidence that reducing dimensionality can strengthen superconductivity as opposed to the weakening effect that has been reported in other 2D materials so far.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Nanoscale Mach-Zehnder interferometer with spin-resolved quantum Hall edge states

We realize a nanoscale-area Mach-Zehnder interferometer with co-propagating quantum Hall spin-resolved edge states and demonstrate the persistence of gate-controlled quantum interference oscillations, as a function of an applied magnetic field, at relatively large temperatures. Arrays of top-gate magnetic nanofingers are used to induce a resonant charge transfer between the pair of spin-resolved edge states. To account for the pattern of oscillations measured as a function of magnetic field and gate voltage, we have developed a simple theoretical model which satisfactorily reproduces the data.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Interactions in Electronic Mach-Zehnder Interferometers with Copropagating Edge Channels

We study Coulomb interactions in the finite bias response of Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which exploit copropagating edge states in the integer quantum Hall effect. Here, interactions are particularly important since the coherent coupling of edge channels is due to a resonant mechanism that is spoiled by inelastic processes. We find that interactions yield a saturation, as a function of bias voltage, of the period-averaged interferometer current, which gives rise to unusual features, such as negative differential conductance, enhancement of the visibility of the current, and nonbounded or even diverging visibility of the differential conductance.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Coherent edge mixing and interferometry in quantum Hall bilayers

We discuss the implementation of a beam splitter for electron waves in a quantum Hall bilayer. Our architecture exploits inter-layer tunneling to mix edge states belonging to different layers. We discuss the basic working principle of the proposed coherent edge mixer, possible interferometric implementations based on existing semiconductor-heterojunction technologies, and advantages with respect to canonical quantum Hall interferometers based on quantum point contacts.

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