arXiv subjects

Malcolm R. Connolly

Publications and source records attributed to Malcolm R. Connolly.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Tomographic Signatures of Interacting Majorana and Andreev States in Superconductor-Semiconductor Transmon Qubits

Semiconductor-based Josephson junctions embedded within a Cooper-pair-box can host complex many-body states, such as interacting Andreev states and potentially other quasi-particles of topological origin. Here, we study the insights that could be revealed from a tomographic reconstruction of the Cooper-pair charge distribution of the junction prepared in its ground state. We posit that interacting and topological states can be identified from distinct signatures within the probability distribution of the charge states. Furthermore, the comprehensive dataset provides direct access to information theory metrics elucidating the entanglement between the charge sector of the superconductor and the microscopic degrees of freedom in the junction. We demonstrate how these metrics serve to further classify differences between the types of excitations in the junction.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

A proposal for charge basis tomography of superconducting qubits

We introduce a general protocol for obtaining the charge basis density matrix of a superconducting quantum circuit. Inspired by cavity state tomography, our protocol combines Josephson-energy pulse sequences and projective charge-basis readout to access the off-diagonal elements of the density matrix, a scheme we thus dub charge basis tomography. We simulate the reconstruction of the ground state of a target transmon using the Aharonov-Casher effect in a probe qubit to realise projective readout and show the Hilbert-Schmidt distance can detect deviations from the correct model Hamiltonian. Unlocking this ability to validate models using the ground state sets the stage for using transmons to detect interacting and topological phases, particularly in materials where time-domain and spectroscopic probes can be limited by intrinsic noise.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Robust Majorana bound states in magnetic topological insulator nanoribbons with fragile chiral edge channels

Magnetic topological insulators in the quantum anomalous Hall regime host ballistic chiral edge channels. When proximitized by an $s$-wave superconductor, these edge states offer the potential for realizing topological superconductivity and Majorana bound states without the detrimental effect of large externally-applied magnetic fields on superconductivity. Realizing well-separated unpaired Majorana bound states requires magnetic topological insulator ribbons with a width of the order of the transverse extent of the edge state, however, which is expected to bring the required ribbon width down to around 100 nm. In this regime, it is known to be extremely difficult to retain the ballistic nature of chiral edge channels and realize a quantized Hall conductance. In this paper, we study the impact of disorder in such magnetic topological insulator nanoribbons and compare the fragility of ballistic chiral edge channels with the stability of Majorana bound states when the ribbon is covered by a superconducting film. We find that the Majorana bound states exhibit greater robustness against disorder than the underlying chiral edge channels.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Robust and fragile Majorana bound states in proximitized topological insulator nanoribbons

Topological insulator (TI) nanoribbons with proximity-induced superconductivity are a promising platform for Majorana bound states (MBSs). In this work, we consider a detailed modeling approach for a TI nanoribbon in contact with a superconductor via its top surface, which induces a superconducting gap in its surface-state spectrum. The system displays a rich phase diagram with different numbers of end-localized MBSs as a function of chemical potential and magnetic flux piercing the cross section of the ribbon. These MBSs can be robust or fragile upon consideration of electrostatic disorder. We simulate a tunneling spectroscopy setup to probe the different topological phases of top-proximitized TI nanoribbons. Our simulation results indicate that a top-proximitized TI nanoribbon is ideally suited for realizing fully gapped topological superconductivity, in particular when the Fermi level is pinned near the Dirac point. In this regime, the setup yields a single pair of MBSs, well separated at opposite ends of the proximitized ribbon, which gives rise to a robust quantized zero-bias conductance peak.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Microwave Sensing of Andreev Bound States in a Gate-Defined Superconducting Quantum Point Contact

We use a superconducting microresonator as a cavity to sense absorption of microwaves by a superconducting quantum point contact defined by surface gates over a proximitized two-dimensional electron gas. Renormalization of the cavity frequency with phase difference across the point contact is consistent with adiabatic coupling to Andreev bound states. Near $π$ phase difference, we observe random fluctuations in absorption with gate voltage, related to quantum interference-induced modulations in the electron transmission. We identify features consistent with the presence of single Andreev bound states and describe the Andreev-cavity interaction using a dispersive Jaynes-Cummings model. By fitting the weak Andreev-cavity coupling, we extract ~GHz decoherence consistent with charge noise and the transmission dispersion associated with a localized state.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Integration of topological insulator Josephson junctions in superconducting qubit circuits

The integration of semiconductor Josephson junctions (JJs) in superconducting quantum circuits provides a versatile platform for hybrid qubits and offers a powerful way to probe exotic quasiparticle excitations. Recent proposals for using circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) to detect topological superconductivity motivate the integration of novel topological materials in such circuits. Here, we report on the realization of superconducting transmon qubits implemented with $(Bi_{0.06}Sb_{0.94})_{2}Te_{3}$ topological insulator (TI) JJs using ultra-high vacuum fabrication techniques. Microwave losses on our substrates with monolithically integrated hardmask, used for selective area growth of TI nanostructures, imply microsecond limits to relaxation times and thus their compatibility with strong-coupling cQED. We use the cavity-qubit interaction to show that the Josephson energy of TI-based transmons scales with their JJ dimensions and demonstrate qubit control as well as temporal quantum coherence. Our results pave the way for advanced investigations of topological materials in both novel Josephson and topological qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Demonstration of Dissipative Quasihelical Edge Transport in Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulators

Doping a topological insulator (TI) film with transition metal ions can break its time-reversal symmetry and lead to the realization of the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect. Prior studies have shown that the longitudinal resistance of the QAH samples usually does not vanish when the Hall resistance shows a good quantization. This has been interpreted as a result of the presence of possible dissipative conducting channels in magnetic TI samples. By studying the temperature- and magnetic field-dependence of the magnetoresistance of a magnetic TI sandwich heterostructure device, we demonstrate that the predominant dissipation mechanism in thick QAH insulators can switch between non-chiral edge states and residual bulk states in different magnetic field regimes. The interactions between bulk states, chiral edge states, and non-chiral edge states are also investigated. Our study provides a way to distinguish between the dissipation arising from the residual bulk states and non-chiral edge states, which is crucial for achieving true dissipationless transport in QAH insulators and for providing deeper insights into QAH-related phenomena.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Superconducting Gatemon Qubit based on a Proximitized Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

The coherent tunnelling of Cooper pairs across Josephson junctions (JJs) generates a nonlinear inductance that is used extensively in quantum information processors based on superconducting circuits, from setting qubit transition frequencies and interqubit coupling strengths, to the gain of parametric amplifiers for quantum-limited readout. The inductance is either set by tailoring the metal-oxide dimensions of single JJs, or magnetically tuned by parallelizing multiple JJs in superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) with local current-biased flux lines. JJs based on superconductor-semiconductor hybrids represent a tantalizing all-electric alternative. The gatemon is a recently developed transmon variant which employs locally gated nanowire (NW) superconductor-semiconductor JJs for qubit control. Here, we go beyond proof-of-concept and demonstrate that semiconducting channels etched from a wafer-scale two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) are a suitable platform for building a scalable gatemon-based quantum computer. We show 2DEG gatemons meet the requirements by performing voltage-controlled single qubit rotations and two-qubit swap operations. We measure qubit coherence times up to ~2 us, limited by dielectric loss in the 2DEG host substrate.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Imaging bulk and edge transport near the Dirac point in graphene moiré superlattices

Van der Waals structures formed by aligning monolayer graphene with insulating layers of hexagonal boron nitride exhibit a moiré superlattice that is expected to break sublattice symmetry. Despite an energy gap of several tens of millielectron volts opening in the Dirac spectrum, electrical resistivity remains lower than expected at low temperature and varies between devices. While subgap states are likely to play a role in this behavior, their precise nature is unclear. We present a scanning gate microscopy study of moiré superlattice devices with comparable activation energy but with different charge disorder levels. In the device with higher charge impurity (~${10}^{10}$ $cm^{-2}$) and lower resistivity (~$10$ $kΩ$) at the Dirac point we observe current flow along the graphene edges. Combined with simulations, our measurements suggest that enhanced edge doping is responsible for this effect. In addition, a device with low charge impurity (~$10^9$ $cm^{-2}$) and higher resistivity (~$100$ $kΩ$) shows subgap states in the bulk, consistent with the absence of shunting by edge currents.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Observation of Coulomb blockade in nanostructured epitaxial bilayer graphene on SiC

We study electron transport in nanostructures patterned in bilayer graphene patches grown epitaxially on SiC as a function of doping, magnetic field, and temperature. Away from charge neutrality transport is only weakly modulated by changes in carrier concentration induced by a local side-gate. At low n-type doping close to charge neutrality, electron transport resembles that in exfoliated graphene nanoribbons and is well described by tunnelling of single electrons through a network of Coulomb-blockaded islands. Under the influence of an external magnetic field, Coulomb blockade resonances fluctuate around an average energy and the gap shrinks as a function of magnetic field. At charge neutrality, however, conduction is less insensitive to external magnetic fields. In this regime we also observe a stronger suppression of the conductance below $T^*$, which we interpret as a sign of broken interlayer symmetry or strong fluctuations in the edge/potential disorder.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗