arXiv subjects

M. P. Nowak

Publications and source records attributed to M. P. Nowak.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Intersubband pairing induced Fulde-Ferrell phase in metallic nanofilms

We consider a free-standing metallic nanofilm with a predominant intersubband paring which emerges as a result of the confinement in the growth direction. We show that the Fermi wave vector mismatch between the subbands, detrimental to the intersubband pairing, can be compensated by the non-zero center of mass momentum of the Cooper pairs. This leads to the spontaneous appearance of the intersubband Fulde-Ferrell (IFF) state, even in the absence of an external magnetic field. Our study of the intrasubband pairing channel on the stability of the IFF phase shows that the former strongly competes with the intersubband pairing, which prohibits the coexistence of the two superconducting phases. Interestingly, upon application of the magnetic field we find a transition to an exotic mixed spin-singlet subband-triplet and spin-triplet subband-singlet paired state. Finally, we discuss the possibility of existence of the IFF pairing in novel superconducting materials.

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arXiv2019

Supercurrent carried by non-equlibrium quasiparticles in a multiterminal Josephson junction

We theoretically study coherent multiple Andreev reflections in a biased three-terminal Josephson junction. We demonstrate that the direct current flowing through the junction consists of supercurrent components when the bias voltages are commensurate. This dissipationless current depends on the phase in the superconducting leads and stems from the Cooper pair transfer processes induced by non-local Andreev reflections of the quasiparticles originating from the superconducting leads. We identify supercurrent-enhanced lines in the current and conductance maps of the recent measurement [Y. Cohen, et al., PNAS 115, 6991 (2018)] on a nanowire Josephson junction and show that the magnitude of the phase-dependent current components is proportional to the junction transparency with the power corresponding to the component order.

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arXiv2019

Probing Andreev reflection reach in semiconductor-superconductor hybrids by Aharonov-Bohm effect

Recent development in fabrication of hybrid nanostructures allows for creation of quantum interferometers that combine semiconductor and superconductor materials. We show that in those nanostructures the joint phenomena of Aharonov-Bohm effect and Andreev reflections can be used to determine the length on which the electron is retro-reflected as a hole. We propose to exploit this feature for probing of the quasiparticle coherence length in semiconductor-superconductor hybrids by a magnetoconductance measurement.

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arXiv2018

Spin-orbit interaction and induced superconductivity in an one-dimensional hole gas

Low dimensional semiconducting structures with strong spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and induced superconductivity attracted much interest in the search for topological superconductors. Both the strong SOI and hard superconducting gap are directly related to the topological protection of the predicted Majorana bound states. Here we explore the one-dimensional hole gas in germanium silicon (Ge-Si) core-shell nanowires (NWs) as a new material candidate for creating a topological superconductor. Fitting multiple Andreev reflection measurements shows that the NW has two transport channels only, underlining its one-dimensionality. Furthermore, we find anisotropy of the Lande g-factor, that, combined with band structure calculations, provides us qualitative evidence for direct Rashba SOI and a strong orbital effect of the magnetic field. Finally, a hard superconducting gap is found in the tunneling regime, and the open regime, where we use the Kondo peak as a new tool to gauge the quality of the superconducting gap.

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arXiv2018

Durability of the superconducting gap in Majorana nanowires under orbital effects of a magnetic field

We analyze the superconducting gap in semiconductor/superconductor nanowires under orbital effects of a magnetic field in the weak- and strong-hybridization regimes using an universal procedure that guarantees the stationarity of the system -- vanishing of the supercurrent induced by spatially varying vector potential. We perform minimization of the free energy with respect to the vector potential which allows to account for the orbital effects even for systems with intrinsically broken spatial symmetries. For the experimentally relevant scenario of a strongly coupled semiconductor/superconductor, where the wave function of the charge carriers hybridizes between the two materials, we find that the gap closes due to the orbital effects in a sizable magnetic field compatible with the the recent experimental report [S. M. Albrecht, et al., Nature 531, 206 (2016)].

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arXiv2018

Renormalization of the Majorana bound state decay length in a perpendicular magnetic field

Orbital effects of a magnetic field in a proximitized semiconductor nanowire are studied in the context of the spatial extent of Majorana bound states. We develop analytical model that explains the impact of concurring effects of paramagnetic coupling of the nanowire bands via the kinetic energy operator and spin-orbit interaction on the Majorana modes. We find, that the perpendicular field, so far considered as to be detrimental to the Majorana fermion formation, is in fact helpful in establishing the topological zero-energy-modes in a finite system due to significant decrease in the Majorana decay length.

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arXiv2016

Quantized conductance doubling and hard gap in a two-dimensional semiconductor-superconductor heterostructure

The prospect of coupling a two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor heterostructure to a superconductor opens new research and technology opportunities, including fundamental problems in mesoscopic superconductivity, scalable superconducting electronics, and new topological states of matter. For instance, one route toward realizing topological matter is by coupling a 2D electron gas (2DEG) with strong spin-orbit interaction to an s-wave superconductor. Previous efforts along these lines have been hindered by interface disorder and unstable gating. Here, we report measurements on a gateable InGaAs/InAs 2DEG with patterned epitaxial Al, yielding multilayer devices with atomically pristine interfaces between semiconductor and superconductor. Using surface gates to form a quantum point contact (QPC), we find a hard superconducting gap in the tunneling regime, overcoming the soft-gap problem in 2D superconductor-semiconductor hybrid systems. With the QPC in the open regime, we observe a first conductance plateau at 4e^2/h, as expected theoretically for a normal-QPC-superconductor structure. The realization of a hard-gap semiconductor-superconductor system that is amenable to top-down processing provides a means of fabricating scalable multicomponent hybrid systems for applications in low-dissipation electronics and topological quantum information.

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arXiv2016

Transparent Semiconductor-Superconductor Interface and Induced Gap in an Epitaxial Heterostructure Josephson Junction

Measurement of multiple Andreev reflection (MAR) in a Josephson junction made from an InAs heterostructure with epitaxial aluminum is used to quantify the highly transparent semiconductor-superconductor interface, indicating near-unity transmission. The observed temperature dependence of MAR does not follow a conventional BCS form, but instead agrees with a model in which the density of states in the quantum well acquires an effective induced gap, in our case 180 μeV, close to that of the epitaxial superconductor. Carrier density dependence of MAR is investigated using a depletion gate, revealing the subband structure of the semiconductor quantum well, consistent with magnetotransport experiment of the bare InAs performed on the same wafer.

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arXiv2015

Single-electron shell occupation and effective $g$-factor in few-electron nanowire quantum dots

Nanowire double quantum dots occupied by an even number of electrons are investigated in the context of energy level structure revealed by electric dipole spin resonance measurements. We use numerically exact configuration interaction approach up to 6 electrons for systems tuned to Pauli spin blockade regime. We point out the differences between the spectra of systems with two and a greater number of electrons. For two-electrons the unequal length of the dots results in a different effective $g$-factors in the dots as observed by the recent experiments. For an increased number of electrons the $g$-factor difference between the dots appears already for symmetric systems and it is greatly amplified when the dots are of unequal length. We find that in the lowest energy states all except of two electrons form a frozen core of singlet shells that can be separated away for description of the properties of the system.

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arXiv2014

Signatures of spin-orbit coupling in scanning gate conductance images of electron flow from quantum point contacts

Electron flow through a quantum point contact in presence of spin-orbit coupling is investigated theoretically in the context of the scanning gate microscopy (SGM) conductance mapping. Although in the absence of the floating gate the spin-orbit coupling does not significantly alter the conductance, we find that the angular dependence of the SGM images of the electron flow at the conductance plateaux is substantially altered as the spin-orbit interaction mixes the orbital modes that enter the quantum point contact. The radial interference fringes that are obtained in the SGM maps at conductance steps are essentially preserved by the spin-orbit interaction as backscattering by the tip preserves the electron spin although the effects of the mode mixing are visible.

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arXiv2014

Imaging of double slit interference by scanning gate microscopy

We consider scanning gate microscopy imaging of the double slit interference for a pair of quantum point contacts (QPCs) defined within the two-dimensional electron gas. The interference is clearly present in the scattered electron wave functions for each of the incident subbands. Nevertheless, we find that the interference is generally missing in the experimentally accessible conductance maps for many incident subbands. We explain this finding on the basis of the Landauer approach. A setup geometry allowing for observation of the double slit interference by the scanning gate microscopy is proposed.

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arXiv2014

Spontaneous and resonant lifting of the spin blockade in nanowire quantum dots

A complete numerical description of the charge and spin dynamics of a two-electron system confined in narrow nanowire quantum dots under oscillating electric field is presented in the context of recent electric dipole spin resonance experiments. We find that the spin-orbit coupling results in lifting the spin blockade by phonon mediated relaxation provided that the initially occupied state is close in energy to the ground state. This leads to suppression of the blockade from the triplet state with spins polarized parallel to the external magnetic field B. At higher B, after singlet-triplet ground-state transition a new channel for lifting the Pauli blockade opens which results in an appearance of additional resonance lines. The calculated signatures of this transition are consistent with recent experimental results [S. M. Frolov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 236805 (2012)].

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arXiv2013

Spin current source based on a quantum point contact with local spin-orbit interaction

Proposal for construction of a source of spin-polarized current based on quantum point contact with local spin-orbit interaction is presented. We show that spin-orbit interaction present within the narrowing acts like a spin filter. The spin polarization of the current is discussed as a function of the Fermi energy and the width of the quantum point contact.

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arXiv2013

Simulations of electric-dipole spin resonance for spin-orbit-coupled quantum dots in Overhauser field: fractional resonances and selection rules

We consider spin rotations in single- and two-electron quantum dots that are driven by external AC electric field with two mechanisms that couple the electron spatial motion and the spin degree of freedom: the spin-orbit interaction and a random fluctuation of the Overhauser field due to nuclear spin bath. We perform a systematic numerical simulation of the driven system using a finite difference approach with an exact account taken for the electron-electron correlation. The simulation demonstrates that the electron oscillation in fluctuating nuclear field is translated into an effective magnetic field during the electron wave packet motion. The effective magnetic field drives the spin transitions according to the electric-dipole spin resonance mechanism. We find distinct signatures of selection rules for direct and higher-order transitions in terms of the spin-orbital symmetries of the wave functions. The selection rules are violated by the random fluctuation of the Overhauser field.

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arXiv2013

Spin polarization anisotropy in a narrow spin-orbit-coupled nanowire quantum dot

One and two-electron systems confined in a single and coupled quantum dots defined within a nanowire with a finite radius are studied in the context of spin-orbit coupling effects. Anisotropy of the spin-orbit interaction is discussed in terms of the system geometry and orientation of the external magnetic field vector. We find that there are easy and hard spin polarization axes and in the quantum dot with strong lateral confinement electron spin becomes well defined in spite of the presence of spin-orbit coupling. We present an analytical solution for the one-dimensional limit and study its validity for nanowires of finite radii by comparing the results with a full three-dimensional calculation. The results are also confronted with the recent measurements of the effective Lande factor and avoided crossing width anisotropy in InSb nanowire quantum dots [S. Nadj-Perge et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 166801 (2012)].

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arXiv2012

Resonant harmonic generation and collective spin rotations in electrically driven quantum dots

Spin rotations induced by an AC electric field in a two-electron double quantum dot are studied by an exact numerical solution of the time dependent Schroedinger equation in the context of recent electric dipole spin resonance experiments based on the Pauli blockade. We demonstrate that the splitting of the main resonance line by the spin exchange coupling is accompanied by the appearance of fractional resonances and that both these effects are triggered by interdot tunnel coupling. We find that the AC driven system generates residual but distinct harmonics of the driving frequency which are amplified when tuned to the main transition frequency. The mechanism is universal for electron systems in electrically driven potentials and works also in the absence of electron-electron interaction or spin-orbit coupling.

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arXiv2011

Fano resonances and electron spin transport through a two-dimensional spin-orbit-coupled quantum ring

Electron transport through a spin-orbit-coupled quantum ring is investigated within linear response theory. We show that the finite width of the ring results in the appearance of Fano resonances in the conductance. This turns out to be a consequence of the spin-orbit interaction that leads to a breaking of the parity of the states localized in the ring. The resonances appear when the system is close to maxima of Aharonov-Casher conductance oscillations where spin transfer is heavily modified. When the spin-orbit coupling strength is detuned from the Aharonov-Casher maxima the resonances are broadened resulting in a dependence of the spin transport on the electron Fermi energy in contrast to predictions from one-dimensional models

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arXiv2011

Tuning of the spin-orbit interaction in a quantum dot by an in-plane magnetic field

Using an exact diagonalization approach we show that one- and two-electron InAs quantum dots exhibit avoided crossing in the energy spectra that are induced by the spin-orbit coupling in the presence of an in-plane external magnetic field. The width of the avoided crossings depends strongly on the orientation of the magnetic field which reveals the intrinsic anisotropy of the spin-orbit coupling interactions. We find that for specific orientations of the magnetic field avoided crossings vanish. Value of this orientation can be used to extract the ratio of the strength of Rashba and Dresselhaus interactions. The spin-orbit anisotropy effects for various geometries and orientations of the confinement potential are discussed. Our analysis explains the physics behind the recent measurements performed on a gated self-assembled quantum dot [S. Takahashi et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 246801 (2010)].

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