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arXiv:2005.05671 · Applied Physics Letters

Vanadium gate-controlled Josephson half-wave nanorectifier

C. Puglia, G. De Simoni, N. Ligato, F. Giazotto

Published Jun 22, 2020• 25 citations
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Abstract

Recently, the possibility to tune the critical current of conventional metallic superconductors via electrostatic gating was shown in wires, Josephson weak-links, and superconductor-normal metal–superconductor junctions. Here, we exploit such a technique to demonstrate a gate-controlled vanadium-based Dayem nano-bridge operated as a half-wave rectifier at 3 K. Our devices exploit the gate-driven modulation of the critical current of the Josephson junction and the resulting steep variation of its normal-state resistance, to convert an AC signal applied to the gate electrode into a DC one across the junction. All-metallic superconducting gated rectifiers could provide the enabling technology to realize tunable photon detectors and diodes useful for superconducting electronics circuitry.

DOI
10.1063/5.0013512

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Physical review. B, Condensed matter•Feb 1, 1994•29 citations
Recently, the possibility to tune the critical current of conventional metallic superconductors via electrostatic gating was shown in wires, Josephson weak-links, and superconductor-normal metal–superconductor junctions. Here, we exploit such a technique to demonstrate a gate-controlled vanadium-based Dayem nano-bridge operated as a half-wave rectifier at 3 K. Our devices exploit the gate-driven modulation of the critical current of the Josephson junction and the resulting steep variation of its normal-state resistance, to convert an AC signal applied to the gate electrode into a DC one across the junction. All-metallic superconducting gated rectifiers could provide the enabling technology to realize tunable photon detectors and diodes useful for superconducting electronics circuitry.
We report on the realization of Nb-based all-metallic Dayem nano-bridge gate-controlled transistors (Nb-GCTs). These Josephson devices operate up to a temperature of ∼3 K and exhibit full suppression of the supercurrent thanks to the application of a control gate voltage. The dependence of the kinetic inductance and of the transconductance on gate voltage promises a performance already on par with so far realized metallic Josephson transistors and leads us to foresee the implementation of a superconducting digital logic based on the Nb-GCT. We conclude by showing the practical realization of a scheme implementing an all-metallic gate-tunable half-wave rectifier to be used for either superconducting electronics or photon detection applications.
Superconducting field-effect transitor (SuFET) and Josephson field-effect transistor (JoFET) technologies take advantage of electric-field-induced control of charge-carrier concentration to modulate the channel superconducting properties. Despite the fact that the field-effect is believed to be ineffective for superconducting metals, recent experiments showed electric-field-dependent modulation of the critical current ( I C ) in a fully metallic transistor. However, the grounding mechanism of this phenomenon is not completely understood. Here, we show the experimental realization of Ti-based Dayem bridge field-effect transistors (DB–FETs) able to control the I C of the superconducting channel. Our easy fabrication process for DB–FETs show symmetric full suppression of I C for applied critical gate voltages as low as V G C ≃ ±8 V at temperatures reaching about the 85% of the record critical temperature, T C ≃ 550 mK, for titanium. The gate-independent T C and normal-state resistance ( R N ) coupled with the increase of resistance in the superconducting state ( R S ) for gate voltages close to the critical value ( V G C ) suggest the creation of field-effect induced metallic puddles in the superconducting sea. Our devices show extremely high values of transconductance (| g m MAX | ≃ 15 μA/V at V G ≃ ±6.5 V) and variations of Josephson kinetic inductance ( L K ) with V G of 2 orders of magnitude. Therefore, the DB–FET appears as an ideal candidate for the realization of superconducting electronics, superconducting qubits, and tunable interferometers as well as photon detectors.
Static electric fields have a negligible influence on the electric and transport properties of a metal because of the screening effect. This belief was extended to conventional metallic superconductors. However, recent experiments have shown that the superconductor properties can be controlled and manipulated by the application of strong electrostatic fields. Here, the authors review the experimental results obtained in the realization of field-effect metallic superconducting devices exploiting this phenomenon. The authors start by presenting the pioneering results on superconducting Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer wires and nanoconstriction Josephson junctions (Dayem bridges) made of different materials, such as titanium, aluminum, and vanadium. Then, the authors show the mastering of the Josephson supercurrent in superconductor-normal metal-superconductor proximity transistors, suggesting that the presence of induced superconducting correlations is enough to see this unconventional field-effect. Later, the authors present the control of the interference pattern in a superconducting quantum interference device, indicating the coupling of the electric field with the superconducting phase. The authors conclude this review by discussing some devices that may represent a breakthrough in superconducting quantum and classical computation.
Recent studies have shown that the critical currents of several metallic superconducting nanowires and Dayem bridges can be locally tuned by using a gate voltage ( V g ). Here, we report a gate-tunable Josephson junction structure constructed from a three-dimensional (3D) niobium nanobridge junction (NBJ) with a voltage gate on top. Measurements up to 6 K showed that the critical current of this structure can be tuned to zero by increasing V g . The critical gate voltage was reduced to 16 V and may possibly be reduced further by reducing the thickness of the insulation layer between the gate and the NBJ. Furthermore, the flux modulation generated by Josephson interference of two parallel 3D NBJs can also be tuned by using V g in a similar manner. Therefore, we believe that this gate-tunable Josephson junction structure is promising for superconducting circuit fabrication at high integration levels.
Gate-tunable Josephson junctions (JJs) are the backbone of superconducting classical and quantum computation. Typically, these systems exploit low-charge-concentration materials and present technological difficulties limiting their scalability. Surprisingly, electric field modulation of a supercurrent in metallic wires and JJs has been recently demonstrated. Here, we report the realization of titanium-based monolithic interferometers which allow tuning both JJs independently via voltage bias applied to capacitively coupled electrodes. Our experiments demonstrate full control of the amplitude of the switching current ( I s ) and of the superconducting phase across the single JJ in a wide range of temperatures. Astoundingly, by gate-biasing a single junction, the maximum achievable total I s is suppressed down to values much lower than the critical current of a single JJ. A theoretical model including gate-induced phase fluctuations on a single junction accounts for our experimental findings. This class of quantum interferometers could represent a breakthrough for several applications such as digital electronics, quantum computing, sensitive magnetometry, and single-photon detection.
The transport properties of a small superconductor--normal-metal--superconducting tunnel junction can be controlled by a gate electrode coupled capacitively to the central island. We evaluate the critical Josephson current Ic{\mathit{I}}_{\mathit{c}}Ic​ through such a system as a function of the gate voltage Vg{\mathit{V}}_{\mathit{g}}Vg​ taking into account parity effects in the superconductors. The dependence Ic{\mathit{I}}_{\mathit{c}}Ic​(Vg{\mathit{V}}_{\mathit{g}}Vg​) shows resonant singularities and has a qualitatively different character for \ensuremath{\Delta}EC{\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{C}}EC​ and \ensuremath{\Delta}>EC{\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{C}}EC​, \ensuremath{\Delta} being the superconducting gap and EC{\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{C}}EC​=e2{\mathit{e}}^{2}e2/2C being the charging energy. Due to the sweeping of the gate voltage, the system can be driven to states which are metastable with respect to a change of the number of electrons on the central island. Since the lifetime of the metastable states can be macroscopically large, one can observe a remarkable bistability of the Josephson current. A weak magnetic field suppresses the interference of the electrons propagating through the central electrode, and, consequently, the magnitude of the critical current.