arXiv subjects

Thomas Kanne

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Kanne.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Kerr nonlinearity and three-wave mixing in superconducting resonators hosting Al-InAs weak links

Nonlinear microwave resonators are a versatile tool in quantum information processing, enabling parametric amplification, continuous variable quantum computing, and engineered mode interactions. Many of these applications especially benefit from cubic nonlinearities enabling three-wave mixing; at the same time, they are limited by quartic nonlinearities giving rise to undesired Kerr effects. A recurrent challenge is therefore to engineer resonators with a finite cubic nonlinearity while suppressing quartic terms. Here, we investigate a superconducting resonator hosting two weak links fabricated from an aluminum-capped indium arsenide nanowire. We characterize the Kerr nonlinearity as a function of magnetic flux and gate bias, showing that it can be tuned to zero with either control parameter. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate three-wave mixing in a semiconductor-superconductor hybrid device, establishing nonzero cubic nonlinearity. An effective model based on Andreev bound states qualitatively captures the observed trends. Our results validate semiconductor-superconductor hybrid devices as a promising platform for tunable nonlinear superconducting circuits, with applications in parametric amplification, quantum control of bosonic modes, and engineering interactions between microwave modes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Probing Synthetic Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon States Through Critical Current in Full-Shell Nanowire Josephson Junctions

Full-shell hybrid nanowires consisting of a semiconductor core fully enveloped by a superconducting shell have emerged as a platform to study Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon (CdGM) analogs. These subgap states can be considered a synthetic version of CdGM states in Abrikosov vortices. Unlike conventional CdGM states, these analogs exhibit a level spacing comparable to the superconducting gap, making them readily observable via tunneling spectroscopy techniques. The spectral density of CdGM analogs follows a characteristic skewed pattern as a function of applied axial magnetic field, an effect that is superimposed on the Little-Parks oscillations of the shell's gap induced by fluxoid quantization. Here, we provide experimental evidence for CdGM analogs through a distinctive skewness fingerprint in the critical current and zero-bias resistance of overdamped Josephson junctions based on full-shell nanowires.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Nanoscale photonic neuron with biological signal processing

Computational hardware designed to mimic biological neural networks holds the promise to resolve the drastically growing global energy demand of artificial intelligence. A wide variety of hardware concepts have been proposed, and among these, photonic approaches offer immense strengths in terms of power efficiency, speed and synaptic connectivity. However, existing solutions have large circuit footprints limiting scaling potential and they miss key biological functions, like inhibition. We demonstrate an artificial nano-optoelectronic neuron with a circuit footprint size reduced by at least a factor of 100 compared to existing technologies and operating powers in the picowatt regime. The neuron can deterministically receive both exciting and inhibiting signals that can be summed and treated with a non-linear function. It demonstrates several biological relevant responses and memory timescales, as well as weighting of input channels. The neuron is compatible with commercial silicon technology, operates at multiple wavelengths and can be used for both computing and optical sensing. This work paves the way for two important research paths: photonic neuromorphic computing with nanosized footprints and low power consumption, and adaptive optical sensing, using the same architecture as a compact, modular front end

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Multimode operation of a superconducting nanowire switch in the nanosecond regime

Superconducting circuits are promising candidates for future computational architectures, however, practical applications require fast operation. Here, we demonstrate fast, gate-based switching of an Al nanowire-based superconducting switch in time-domain experiments. We apply voltage pulses on the gate while monitoring the microwave transmission of the device. Utilizing the usual leakage-based operation these measurements yield a fast, 1--2~ns switching time to the normal state, possibly limited by the bandwidth of our setup, and a 10--20~ns delay in the normal to superconducting transition. However, having a significant capacitance between the gate and the device allows for a novel operation, where the displacement current, induced by the fast gate pulses, drives the transition. The switching from superconducting to the normal state yields a similar fast timescale, while in the opposite direction the switching is significantly faster (4--6~ns) than the leakage based operation, which may be further improved by better thermal design. The measured short timescales and novel switching operation open the way for future fast and low-power-consumption applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Microwave dynamics of gated Al/InAs superconducting nanowires

Several experiments have recently reported on gate-tunable superconducting properties in metallic devices, holding promise for the realization of cryogenic switches, tunable resonators, and superconducting logic. In particular, the suppression of the critical current as a function of the gate voltage has been widely investigated. However, time-domain studies are discussed only in a few cases. In this paper, we present a microwave characterization of a gate-controlled Al-capped InAs nanowire embedded in a $\lambda/4$ coplanar waveguide resonator. We observe a shift in the resonator frequency and an increase in its internal losses as a function of the gate voltage, which we relate to a change in the imaginary and real components of the nanowire impedance, respectively. We demonstrate that these changes are described by the Mattis-Bardeen model with an effective temperature. We further study the resonator response to fast gate signals and measure characteristic response times of the order of 40 ns, both in time-domain and parametric modulation experiments. Our study elucidates the impact of the gate on the complex impedance of the nanowire in the superconducting state, as well as its dynamic performance, providing a foundation for the design of gate-controlled superconducting devices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Andreev spin relaxation time in a shadow-evaporated InAs weak link

Andreev spin qubits are a new qubit platform that merges superconductivity with semiconductor physics. The mechanisms dominating observed energy relaxation remain unidentified. We report here on three steps taken to address these questions in an InAs nanowire weak link. First, we designed a microwave readout circuit tuned to be directly sensitive to the spin-dependent inductance of the weak link so that higher orbital states are not necessary for readout -- this resulted in larger windows in parameter space in which the spin state properties can be probed. Second, we implemented a successful gap-engineering strategy to mitigate quasiparticle poisoning. Third, the weak link was fabricated by \textit{in situ} shadow evaporation, which has been shown to improve atomic-scale disorder. We show how our design allows characterization of the spin stability and coherence over the full range of magnetic flux and gate voltage of an odd parity bias point. The spin relaxation and dephasing rates are comparable with the best devices previously reported, suggestive that surface atomic-scale disorder and QP poisoning are not linked to spin relaxation in InAs nanowires. Our design strategies are transferrable to novel materials platforms for Andreev qubits such as germanium and carbon.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Heteroatomic Andreev molecule in a superconducting island-double quantum dot hybrid

Topological superconductors (SCs) hold great promise for fault-tolerant quantum hardware, however, their experimental realization is very challenging. Recently, superconducting artificial molecules (Andreev molecules) have opened new avenues to engineer topological superconducting materials. In this work, we demonstrate a heteroatomic Andreev molecule, where two normal artificial atoms realized by quantum dots (QDs) are coupled by a superconducting island (SCI). We show that the two normal atoms strongly hybridize and form a 3-electron-based molecular state. Our density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations explain quantitatively the robust binding of electrons. The tunability of the structure allows us to drive a quantum phase transition from an antiferromagnetic Andreev molecular state to a heteroatomic Andreev molecule with ferromagnetically coupled QDs using simple electrical gating.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Switching dynamics in Al/InAs nanowire-based gate-controlled superconducting switch

The observation of the gate-controlled supercurrent (GCS) effect in superconducting nanostructures increased the hopes for realizing a superconducting equivalent of semiconductor field-effect transistors. However, recent works attribute this effect to various leakage-based scenarios, giving rise to a debate on its origin. A proper understanding of the microscopic process underlying the GCS effect and the relevant time scales would be beneficial to evaluate the possible applications. In this work, we observed gate-induced two-level fluctuations between the superconducting state and normal state in Al/InAs nanowires (NWs). Noise correlation measurements show a strong correlation with leakage current fluctuations. The time-domain measurements show that these fluctuations have Poissonian statistics. Our detailed analysis of the leakage current measurements reveals that it is consistent with the stress-induced leakage current (SILC), in which inelastic tunneling with phonon generation is the predominant transport mechanism. Our findings shed light on the microscopic origin of the GCS effect and give deeper insight into the switching dynamics of the superconducting NW under the influence of the strong gate voltage.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Heat dissipation mechanisms in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor devices revealed by Joule spectroscopy

Understanding heating and cooling mechanisms in mesoscopic superconductor-semiconductor hybrid devices is crucial for their application in quantum technologies. Owing to the poor thermal conductivity of typical devices, heating effects can drive superconducting-to-normal phase transitions even at low applied bias, observed as sharp conductance dips through the loss of Andreev excess currents. Tracking such dips across magnetic field, cryostat temperature, and applied microwave power, which constitutes Joule spectroscopy, allows to uncover the underlying cooling bottlenecks in different parts of a device. By applying this technique, we analyze heat dissipation in devices based on full-shell InAs-Al nanowires and reveal that superconducting islands are strongly susceptible to heating as their cooling is limited by the rather inefficient electron-phonon coupling, as opposed to grounded superconductors that primarily cool by quasiparticle diffusion. Our measurements indicate that powers as low as 50-150 pW are able to fully suprpress the superconductivity of an island. Finally, we show that applied microwaves lead to similar heating effects as DC signals, and explore the interplay of the microwave frequency and the effective electron-phonon relaxation time.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Signatures of gate-driven out of equilibrium superconductivity in Ta/InAs nanowires

Understanding the microscopic origin of the gate-controlled supercurrent (GCS) in superconducting nanobridges is crucial for engineering superconducting switches suitable for a variety of electronic applications. The origin of GCS is controversial, and various mechanisms have been proposed to explain it. In this work, we have investigated the GCS in a Ta layer deposited on the surface of InAs nanowires. Comparison between switching current distributions at opposite gate polarities and between the gate dependence of two opposite side gates with different nanowire$-$gate spacings shows that the GCS is determined by the power dissipated by the gate leakage. We also found a substantial difference between the influence of the gate and elevated bath temperature on the magnetic field dependence of the supercurrent. Detailed analysis of the switching dynamics at high gate voltages shows that the device is driven into the multiple phase slips regime by high-energy fluctuations arising from the leakage current.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Joule spectroscopy of hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanodevices

Hybrid superconductor-semiconductor devices offer highly tunable platforms, potentially suitable for quantum technology applications, that have been intensively studied in the past decade. Here we establish that measurements of the superconductor-to-normal transition originating from Joule heating provide a powerful spectroscopical tool to characterize such hybrid devices. Concretely, we apply this technique to junctions in full-shell Al-InAs nanowires in the Little-Parks regime and obtain detailed information of each lead independently and in a single measurement, including differences in the superconducting coherence lengths of the leads, inhomogeneous covering of the epitaxial shell, and the inverse superconducting proximity effect; all-in-all constituting a unique fingerprint of each device and highlighting the large variability present in these systems. Besides the practical uses, our work also underscores the importance of heating in hybrid devices, an effect that is often overlooked.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Parallel InAs nanowires for Cooper pair splitters with Coulomb repulsion

Hybrid nanostructures consisting of two parallel InAs nanowires connected by an epitaxially grown superconductor (SC) shell recently became available. Due to the defect-free SC-semiconductor interface and the two quasi-one-dimensional channels being close by, these novel platforms can be utilized to spatially separate entangled pairs of electrons by using quantum dots (QD) in the so-called Cooper pair splitting (CPS) process. The minimized distance between the QDs overcomes the limitations of single-wire-based geometries and can boost the splitting efficiency. Here we investigate CPS in such a device, for the first time, where strong inter-dot Coulomb repulsion is also present and studied thoroughly. We analyze theoretically the slight reduction of the CPS efficiency imposed by the Coulomb interaction and compare it to the experiments. Despite the competition between crossed Andreev reflection (CAR) and inter-wire capacitance, a significant CPS signal is observed indicating the dominance of the superconducting coupling. Our results demonstrate that the application of parallel InAs nanowires with epitaxial SC is a promising route for the realization of parafermionic states relying on enhanced CAR between the wires.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Electronic transport in double-nanowire superconducting islands with multiple terminals

We characterize in-situ grown parallel nanowires bridged by a superconducting island. The magnetic-field and temperature dependence of Coulomb blockade peaks measured across different pairs of nanowire ends are consistent with a sub-gap state extended over the hybrid parallel-nanowire island. Being gate-tunable, accessible by multiple terminals and free of quasiparticle poisoning, these nanowires show promise for the implementation of several proposals that rely on parallel nanowire platforms.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Superconductivity and parity preservation in as-grown In islands on InAs nanowires

We report in-situ synthesis of crystalline indium islands on InAs nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Structural analysis by transmission electron microscopy showed that In crystals grew in a tetragonal body-centred crystal structure within two families of orientations relative to wurtzite InAs. The crystalline islands had lengths < 500 nm and low-energy surfaces, suggesting that growth was driven mainly by surface energy minimization. Electrical transport through In/InAs devices exhibited Cooper pair charging, evidencing charge parity preservation and a pristine In/InAs interface, with an induced superconducting gap ~ 0.45 meV. Cooper pair charging persisted to temperatures > 1.2 K and magnetic fields ~ 0.7 T, demonstrating that In/InAs hybrids belong to an expanding class of semiconductor/superconductor hybrids operating over a wider parameter space than state-of-the-art Al-based hybrids. Engineering crystal morphology while isolating single islands using shadow epitaxy provides an interesting alternative to previous semiconductor/superconductor hybrid morphologies and device geometries.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Scalable platform for nanocrystal-based quantum electronics

Unlocking the full potential of nanocrystals in electronic devices requires scalable and deterministic manufacturing techniques. A platform offering promising alternative paths to scalable production is microtomy, the technique of cutting thin lamellae with large areas containing embedded nanostructures. This platform has so far not been used for fabrication of electronic quantum devices. Here, we combine microtomy with vapor-liquid-solid growth of III/V nanowires to create a scalable platform that can deterministically transfer large arrays of single and fused nanocrystals - offering single unit control and free choice of target substrate. We fabricate electronic devices on cross-sectioned InAs nanowires with good yield and demonstrate their ability to exhibit quantum phenomena such as conductance quantization, single electron charging, and wave interference. Finally, we devise how the platform can host rationally designed semiconductor/superconductor networks relevant for emerging quantum technologies.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Gate-controlled supercurrent in epitaxial Al/InAs nanowires

Gate-controlled supercurrent (GCS) in superconductor nanobridges has recently attracted attention as a means to create superconducting field effect transistors. Despite the clear advantage for applications with low power consumption and high switching speeds, the microscopic mechanism of the field effect is still under debate. In this work, we realize GCS for the first time in an epitaxial superconductor, which is created as a shell on an InAs nanowire. We show that the supercurrent in the epitaxial Al layer can be switched to the normal state by applying $\simeq\pm$ 23$\,$V on a bottom gate insulated from the nanowire by a crystalline hBN layer. Our extensive study on the temperature and magnetic field dependencies of GCS suggests that hot electron injection alone cannot explain our experimental findings.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Asymmetric Little-Parks Oscillations in Full Shell Double Nanowires

Little-Parks oscillations of a hollow superconducting cylinder are of interest for flux-driven topological superconductivity in single Rashba nanowires. The oscillations are typically symmetric in the orientation of the applied magnetic flux. Using double InAs nanowires coated by an epitaxial superconducting Al shell which, despite the non-centro-symmetric geometry, behaves effectively as one hollow cylinder, we demonstrate that a small misalignment of the applied parallel field with respect to the axis of the nanowires can produce field-asymmetric Little-Parks oscillations. These are revealed by the simultaneous application of a magnetic field perpendicular to the misaligned parallel field direction. The asymmetry occurs in both the destructive regime, in which superconductivity is destroyed for half-integer quanta of flux through the shell, and in the non-destructive regime, where superconductivity is depressed but not fully destroyed at these flux values.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2021

Josephson junctions in double nanowires bridged by in-situ deposited superconductors

We characterize parallel double quantum dot Josephson junctions based on closely-grown double nanowires bridged by in-situ deposited superconductors. The parallel double dot behavior occurs despite the closeness of the nanowires and the potential risk of nanowire clamping during growth. By tuning the charge filling and lead couplings, we map out the simplest parallel double quantum dot Yu-Shiba-Rusinov phase diagram. Our quasi-independent two-wire hybrids show promise for the realization of exotic topological phases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗