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arXiv:1901.05700 · Physical Review Letters

Role of Quasiparticles in an Electric Circuit with Josephson Junctions

Benoît Rossignol, Thomas Kloss, Xavier Waintal

Published May 22, 2019• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Although Josephson junctions can be viewed as highly nonlinear impedances for superconducting quantum technologies, they also possess internal dynamics that may strongly affect their behavior. Here, we construct a computational framework that includes a microscopic description of the junction (full fledged treatment of both the superconducting condensate and the quasiparticles) in the presence of a surrounding electrical circuit. Our approach generalizes the standard resistor capacitor Josephson model to arbitrary junctions (including, e.g., multiterminal geometries and/or junctions that embed topological or magnetic elements) and arbitrary electric circuits treated at the classical level. By treating the superconducting condensate and quasiparticles on equal footings, we capture nonequilibrium phenomena such as multiple Andreev reflection. We show that the interplay between the quasiparticle dynamics and the electrical environment leads to the emergence of new phenomena. In a RC circuit connected to single channel Josephson junction, we find out-of-equilibrium current-phase relations that are strongly distorted with respect to the (almost sinusoidal) equilibrium one, revealing the presence of the high harmonic ac Josephson effect. In an RLC circuit connected to a junction, we find that the shape of the resonance is strongly modified by the quasiparticle dynamics: close to resonance, the current can be smaller than without the resonator. Our approach provides a route for the quantitative modeling of superconducting-based circuits.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.122.207702

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Although Josephson junctions can be viewed as highly nonlinear impedances for superconducting quantum technologies, they also possess internal dynamics that may strongly affect their behavior. Here, we construct a computational framework that includes a microscopic description of the junction (full fledged treatment of both the superconducting condensate and the quasiparticles) in the presence of a surrounding electrical circuit. Our approach generalizes the standard resistor capacitor Josephson model to arbitrary junctions (including, e.g., multiterminal geometries and/or junctions that embed topological or magnetic elements) and arbitrary electric circuits treated at the classical level. By treating the superconducting condensate and quasiparticles on equal footings, we capture nonequilibrium phenomena such as multiple Andreev reflection. We show that the interplay between the quasiparticle dynamics and the electrical environment leads to the emergence of new phenomena. In a RC circuit connected to single channel Josephson junction, we find out-of-equilibrium current-phase relations that are strongly distorted with respect to the (almost sinusoidal) equilibrium one, revealing the presence of the high harmonic ac Josephson effect. In an RLC circuit connected to a junction, we find that the shape of the resonance is strongly modified by the quasiparticle dynamics: close to resonance, the current can be smaller than without the resonator. Our approach provides a route for the quantitative modeling of superconducting-based circuits.
This manuscript summarizes my research activities devoted to the study of nonequilibrium phenomena in mesoscopic superconducting and semiconducting circuits. The work develops along two directions: the dynamics of metallic Josephson junctions driven out of equilibrium and the interaction between electrons and microwave photons in mesoscopic quantum circuits.The first part investigates diffusive superconductor–normal metal–superconductor Josephson junctions subjected to strong perturbations such as microwave irradiation or stochastic injection of high-energy quasiparticles. These experiments reveal how nonequilibrium excitations modify the Andreev spectrum and the phase dynamics of the junction. The second part addresses electron–photon coupling in mesoscopic circuits across different interaction regimes. Early work focused on semiconductor double quantum dots coupled to low-impedance microwave cavities in the weak coupling regime. Later work involved the fabrication and characterization of high-kineticinductance superconducting materials, allowing the realization of high-impedance resonators and stronger light-matter coupling. Finally, a superconducting tunnel junction coupled to a high-impedance granular aluminum cavity allowed bath engineering based on photo-assisted quasiparticle tunneling, efficient photon-toelectron conversion, and continuous single microwave photon detection.
Abstract Non-equilibrium quasiparticles are possible sources for decoherence in superconducting qubits because they can lead to energy decay or dephasing upon tunneling across Josephson junctions (JJs). Here, we investigate the impact of the intrinsic properties of two-dimensional transmon qubits on quasiparticle tunneling (QPT) and discuss how we can use quasiparticle dynamics to gain critical information about the quality of JJ barrier. We find the tunneling rate of the non-equilibrium quasiparticles to be sensitive to the choice of the shunting capacitor material and their geometry in qubits. In some devices, we observe an anomalous temperature dependence of the QPT rate below 100 mK that deviates from a constant background associated with non-equilibrium quasiparticles. We speculate that this behavior is caused by high transmission sites/defects within the oxide barriers of the JJs, leading to spatially localized subgap states. We model this by assuming that such defects generate regions with a smaller effective gap. Our results present a unique in situ characterization tool to assess the uniformity of tunnel barriers in qubit junctions and shed light on how quasiparticles can interact with various elements of the qubit circuit.
Josephson junction, as the core nonlinear element underpinning superconducting electronics, is characterized by its current-phase relation (CPR), which fundamentally determines the dynamical properties and functional capabilities of superconducting quantum devices. Traditional Josephson junctions typically exhibit a traditional sinusoidal CPR; however, the junctions characterized by non-sinusoidal CPR have recently attracted considerable attention due to their distinctive physical properties and promising quantum device applications. In this work, a numerical model tailored specifically for junctions exhibiting non-sinusoidal CPR is developed by integrating experimentally measured current-voltage (I-V ) characteristics from Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb junctions into a resistively and capacitively shunted junction (RCSJ) framework. By leveraging this refined model, the influence of CPR skewness on Josephson junction dynamics is systematically investigated. Our results indicate that in underdamped junctions, the critical current significantly diminishes with the increase of CPR skewness, a behavior reminiscent of the adjustable critical currents typically observed in DC superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). Conversely, in overdamped junctions, the influence of CPR skewness on the I-V characteristics is found to be negligible. However, our numerical simulations under microwave irradiation indicate that nonsinusoidal CPRs readily promote the emergence of half-integer Shapiro steps in overdamped junctions, thereby establishing CPR skewness as a plausible microscopic origin for this phenomenon. In addition, the advanced design system (ADS) simulations is employed to model nonlinear resonators and DC SQUID circuits, offering a detailed investigation into how nonsinusoidal CPRs modulate the Josephson inductance and magnetic flux response. Our findings reveal that engineering the CPR of Josephson junctions provides substantial flexibility in the design of superconducting qubits, parametric amplifiers, and non-magnetic nonreciprocal devices. This tunability underscores significant opportunities for developing next-generation superconducting electronic components. The Josephson junctions with engineered CPR offer expanded functionality for superconducting quantum technologies. This study suggests that customized CPR can enhance control over the dynamical behavior of junctions, and promote the optimized designs of superconducting qubits, parametric amplifiers, and nonmagnetic nonreciprocal devices.
Quasiparticle (QP) effects play a significant role in the coherence and fidelity of superconducting quantum circuits.The Andreev bound states of high-transparency Josephson junctions can act as low-energy traps for QPs, providing a mechanism for studying the dynamics and properties of both the QPs and the junction.Using locally injected and thermal QPs, we study QP loss and QP poisoning in epitaxial Al-InAs Josephson junctions incorporated in a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) galvanically shorting a superconducting resonator to ground.We observe changes in the resonance line shape and frequency shifts consistent with QP trapping into and clearing out of the ABSs of the junctions when the junctions are phase biased.By monitoring the QP trapping and clearing mechanisms in time, we find a time scale of O(1 µs) for these QP dynamics, consistent with the presence of phonon-mediated QP-QP interactions.Our measurements suggest that electron-phonon interactions play a significant role in the relaxation mechanisms of our system, while electron-photon interactions and electron-phonon interactions govern the clearing mechanisms.Our results highlight the QP-induced dissipation and complex QP dynamics in superconducting quantum circuits fabricated on superconductor-semiconductor heterostructures.
Conventional tunnel Josephson junctions form the basic building blocks of superconducting electronics. Their operation is based on comparatively simple dynamics where the superconducting phases across the junctions is the only dynamical degree of freedom. The goal of the project on which this thesis is based, is to understand the physics and develop a consistent theoretical description of the quantum dynamics of unconventional Josephson structures: spin active junctions, junctions containing low energy quasiparticles, and junctions composed of ddd-wave superconductors. Spin active Josephson junctions involve the additional degree of freedom of quasiparticle spin. Here we theoretically investigate the spin-structure of the current carrying interface bound states - Andreev Bound States (ABS), and induced ground state spin polarization of a short (shorter than the superconducting coherence length) nanowire junction containing a localized magnetic moment. We show that temporal variation of the superconducting phase difference and magnetic moment induce rotations in spin polarized and unpolarized subspaces respectively, which is manifested by temporal oscillation of the Josephson current.The interlevel transitions obey a selection rule that forbids manipulations in a certain region ofexternal parameters and results from specific properties of Andreev bound states in magnetic contacts where, in a certain regime of phase bias and strength of magnetic scatterer, ABS belong to different eigenstates of the combined charge and parity inversion symmetry operator.A general framework is developed to include low energy quasiparticle states into the dynamics of Josephson junctions. Such states exist in e.g. constriction type junctions with high transparency channels or resonant states, as well as in junctions of unconventional superconductors. The existence of such states prevent the separation of energy scales which in conventional tunnel junctions freezes out the quasiparticle degrees of freedom. We show that the resonant interaction with such low energy states rather than the Josephson potential defines the nonlinear Josephson dynamics at small amplitudes.The framework is applied to high temperature Josephson junctions, whose unconventional order parameter admits ABS with energies in the middle of the superconducting gap - Mid Gap States (MGS). In addition to the non-linear dynamics induced by the MGS, we identify a reentrance effect in the transition between thermal activation and macroscopic quantum tunneling associated with the MGS, and connect this phenomenon to experimental observations.
We explore superconducting quantum circuits where several leads are simultaneously connected beyond the tunneling regime, such that the fermionic structure of Andreev bound states in the resulting multiterminal Josephson junction influences the states of the full circuit. Using a simple model of single-channel contacts and a single level in the middle region, we discuss different circuit configurations where the leads are islands with finite capacitance and/or form loops with finite inductance. We find situations of practical interest where the circuits can be used to define noise-protected qubits, which map to the bifluxon and 0−π qubits in the tunneling regime. We also point out the subtleties of the gauge choice for a proper description of these quantum circuit dynamics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024