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arXiv:2106.03859 · Physical Review Research

Single-spin qubit magnetic spectroscopy of two-dimensional superconductivity

Shubhayu Chatterjee, Pavel E. Dolgirev, Ilya Esterlis, Alexander Zibrov, Mikhail D. Lukin, Norman Y. Yao, Eugene Demler

Published Jan 10, 2022• 25 citations
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Abstract

A single-spin qubit placed near the surface of a conductor acquires an additional contribution to its 1/T 1 relaxation rate due to magnetic noise created by electric current fluctuations in the material.We analyze this technique as a wireless probe of superconductivity in atomically thin two-dimensional materials.At temperatures T T c , the dominant contribution to the qubit relaxation rate is due to transverse electric current fluctuations arising from quasiparticle excitations.We demonstrate that this method enables detection of metal-to-superconductor transitions, as well as investigation of the symmetry of the superconducting gap function, through the noise scaling with temperature.We show that scaling of the noise with sample-probe distance provides a window into the nonlocal quasistatic conductivity of superconductors, both clean and disordered.At low temperatures the quasiparticle fluctuations get suppressed, yet the noise can be substantial due to resonant contributions from collective longitudinal modes, such as plasmons in monolayers and Josephson plasmons in bilayers.Potential experimental implications are discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physrevresearch.4.l012001

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•Jan 1, 2013•0 citations
A single-spin qubit placed near the surface of a conductor acquires an additional contribution to its 1/T 1 relaxation rate due to magnetic noise created by electric current fluctuations in the material.We analyze this technique as a wireless probe of superconductivity in atomically thin two-dimensional materials.At temperatures T T c , the dominant contribution to the qubit relaxation rate is due to transverse electric current fluctuations arising from quasiparticle excitations.We demonstrate that this method enables detection of metal-to-superconductor transitions, as well as investigation of the symmetry of the superconducting gap function, through the noise scaling with temperature.We show that scaling of the noise with sample-probe distance provides a window into the nonlocal quasistatic conductivity of superconductors, both clean and disordered.At low temperatures the quasiparticle fluctuations get suppressed, yet the noise can be substantial due to resonant contributions from collective longitudinal modes, such as plasmons in monolayers and Josephson plasmons in bilayers.Potential experimental implications are discussed.
We compute the evanescent-wave Johnson noise (EWJN) in the vacuum half-space above a superconductor, and the resulting relaxation time (T1T_1T1​) of spin and charge qubits placed at nanometer distances from the surface. The electromagnetic response is described by a single microscopic transverse current-response kernel Q(q,ω)Q(q, ω)Q(q,ω) for a BCS superconductor. This is computed for varying densities of both non-magnetic impurities and magnetic impurities, for arbitrary frequency and temperature and for wave vectors q≪kFq \ll k_Fq≪kF​ (the Fermi wavevector). When combined with the fluctuation-dissipation theorem and the nonlocal surface impedances of the half-space, this yields the magnetic and electric field noise at any distance z≫kF−1z \gg k_F^{-1}z≫kF−1​ from the surface, from which we obtain T1T_1T1​. Just below TcT_cTc​ the magnetic noise is enhanced relative to the normal state by the coherence (Hebel-Slichter-type) peak of the dissipative conductivity and drops exponentially at lower temperatures; the electric noise shows no coherence peak. The theory predicts that there is a zero-temperature noise floor induced by magnetic impurities. In the gapless regime produced by pair breaking, the finite subgap density of states ν(0)ν(0)ν(0) yields a temperature-independent noise spectral density and a relaxation rate bounded by T1−1(T)≤[ν(0)/νF]2 T1,N−1(T)T_1^{-1}(T)\le[ν(0)/ν_F]^{2}\,T_{1,N}^{-1}(T)T1−1​(T)≤[ν(0)/νF​]2T1,N−1​(T) for T≪TcT\ll T_cT≪Tc​, with equality in the extreme nonlocal regime. Here ν(0)ν(0)ν(0) and νFν_FνF​ are the superconducting and normal-state densities of states at the Fermi energy, and T1,N(T)T_{1,N}(T)T1,N​(T) is the relaxation time the same electrode would produce in its normal state at the same temperature.
The nonlocal superconducting fluctuation corrections to the conductivity tensor σij(q,ω)σ_{ij}(\mathbf{q},ω)σij​(q,ω) are calculated within the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau framework, and their observable consequences for quantum noise magnetometry are worked out. For a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) sensor we obtain the relaxation rate 1/T11/T_11/T1​ as a function of temperature, sample-sensor distance, and probe frequency, identifying the scales at which the nonlocality and the dynamics of the pair fluctuations cut off the critical enhancement near TcT_cTc​. For two-sensor covariance magnetometry we show that the two-point field correlator develops additional spatial structure whose range directly measures the fluctuation correlation length ξ(T)ξ(T)ξ(T). We further analyze two channels that accompany the paraconductivity: the Maki-Thompson correction to the spin susceptibility, and the fluctuation diamagnetism. Finally, we solve exactly, to all orders in a dc electric field and at all wave vectors, for the nonequilibrium current noise of the fluctuating film: the noise decouples from the nonlinear paraconductivity, violating the fluctuation-dissipation theorem by universal factors at criticality and acquiring a bias-induced spatial anisotropy directly measurable by covariance magnetometry. The results are connected to a recent experiment measuring current noise near a thin film of BSCCO.
We calculate the two-point magnetic noise spectrum arising from Gaussian superconducting fluctuations, a quantity directly measurable by spin qubit pairs such as nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond. The analysis utilizes the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, reflecting the direct contribution of fluctuating Cooper pairs to the current correlations and consequent magnetic noise. We treat both two-dimensional systems and wires, considering them in equilibrium and under a uniform electric field. The signal is expected to be strongest in high-temperature superconductors, and we contrast our findings with the predicted signatures of a vortex liquid to offer an additional route to elucidate the nature of fluctuations in these systems.
Characterizing the low-energy dynamics of quantum materials is crucial for understanding strongly correlated electronic states, yet remains experimentally challenging, particularly in two-dimensional systems. Here, we leverage nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond as a non-invasive quantum sensor to study thin-film Bi2_22​Sr2_22​CaCu2_22​O8+δ_{8+δ}8+δ​ (BSCCO), revealing several distinct dynamical phenomena across the superconducting phase diagram. At zero magnetic field and low temperatures, NV depolarization (T1T_1T1​) spectroscopy captures GHz-scale noise from nodal quasiparticle excitations, consistent with Bardeen--Cooper--Schrieffer (BCS) mean-field theory. Near the critical temperature Tc≈90T_c \approx 90Tc​≈90 K, supercurrent-fluctuation-induced noise sharply reduces T1T_1T1​. By analyzing the temperature scaling of T1T_1T1​, we observe clear deviations from mean-field prediction, reflecting the importance of order parameter fluctuations and enabling the determination of critical exponents. Under a small magnetic field, a broad and asymmetric reduction of T1T_1T1​ unveils a liquid-like phase of mobile vortices. NV decoherence (T2T_2T2​) spectroscopy further probes MHz-scale noise and reveals complex vortex-solid fluctuations well below TcT_cTc​. Our results establish quantum noise spectroscopy as a non-invasive probe of superconducting dynamics over frequency and length scales complementary to existing techniques.
Symmetry-resolved spectroscopies, such as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and polarization-resolved Raman, are central for quantum material characterization, yet remain challenging at nanoscale dimensions and low frequencies. Here, we propose correlated quantum dephasometry, which enables symmetry resolved quantum noise spectroscopy of materials at nanoscale and low (∼\sim∼MHz) frequencies via correlated dephasing of two spin qubits near materials. Our approach leverages the finite-range spatial structures of nonlocal near-field noise correlations to isolate rotational symmetry of the material response in momentum space beyond single qubit capabilities. We apply our approach to two-dimensional (2D) superconductors, and predict clear fingerprints that discriminate s-, d-, and g-wave symmetry of the superconducting gap. To highlight the generality, we further show that the same framework resolves 2D s-wave antiferromagnets and d-wave altermagnets. Our results establish correlated quantum dephasometry as a nanoscale, low-frequency complement for symmetry-resolved spectroscopy applicable to a broad class of quantum materials.
For over three decades, the presence of magnetic flux noise with a power spectral density scaling roughly as SPhi(f)propto1/falphaS_Phi(f) propto 1/f^alphaSP​hi(f)propto1/falpha, where alphalesssim1alpha lesssim 1alphalesssim1, has been known to limit the low-frequency performance of dc superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). In recent years, experiments indicate that this same noise persists to frequencies up to 1~GHz and is a dominant source of dephasing in flux-sensitive superconducting quantum bits (qubits). Thus, the reduction of flux noise presents a major hurdle towards the successful realization of scalable quantum computers that are based on flux-based qubits. In this thesis, we present experimental measurements, theoretical analyses, and numerical simulations that support a more detailed understanding of both the microscopic and macroscopic properties of flux noise.Our experimental work begins with flux noise measurements of a large number of SQUIDs in the temperature range from 0.1~K to 4~K. We report on measurements of ten SQUIDs with systematically varied geometries and show that alphaalphaalpha increases as the temperature is lowered; in so doing, each spectrum pivots about a nearly constant frequency. The mean square flux noise, inferred by integrating the power spectra, grows rapidly with temperature and at a given temperature is approximately independent of the outer dimension of a given SQUID washer. We show that these results are incompatible with a model based on the random reversal of independent, spins that are located at the surface of the SQUID washer.In the course of our flux noise measurements, we became aware of a spurious contribution to low-frequency critical current noise in Josephson junctions---normally attributed to charge trapping in the barrier---arising from temperature instabilities inherent in cryogenic systems. These temperature fluctuations modify the critical current via its temperature dependence. By computing cross-correlations between measured temperature and critical current noise in Al-AlOx-Al junctions, we show that, despite excellent temperature stability, temperature fluctuations induce observable critical current fluctuations. Particularly, because 1/f1/f1/f critical current noise has decreased with improved fabrication techniques in recent years, it is important to understand and eliminate this additional noise source.Next, we introduce a numerical method of calculating the mean square flux noise PhisqPhisqPhisq from independently fluctuating spins on the surface of thin-film loops of arbitrary geometry. By reciprocity, PhisqPhisqPhisq is proportional to langleBbf(rbf)2ranglelangleBbf(rbf)^2ranglelangleBbf(rbf)2rangle, where Bbf(rbf)Bbf(rbf)Bbf(rbf) is the magnetic field generated by a circulating current around the loop and rbfrbfrbf varies over the loop surface. By discretizing the loop nonuniformly, we efficiently and accurately compute the current distribution and resulting magnetic field, which may vary rapidly across the loop. We use this method to compute PhisqPhisqPhisq in a number of scenarios in which we systematically vary physical parameters of the loop. We compare our simulations to an earlier analytic result predicting that PhisqproptoR/WPhisq propto R/WPhisqproptoR/W in the limit where the loop radius RRR is much greater than the linewidth WWW. We further show that the previously neglected contribution of edge spins to PhisqPhisqPhisq is significant---even dominant---in narrow-linewidth loops.To calculate theoretical dephasing rates in qubits, we consider flux noise with a spectral density SPhi(f)=A2/(f/1 hboxHz)alphaS_Phi(f) = A^2/(f/1~hbox{Hz})^alphaSP​hi(f)=A2/(f/1 hboxHz)alpha, where AAA is of the order of 1~muPhi0,hboxHz−1/2muPhi_0 , hbox{Hz}^{-1/2}muPhi0​,hboxHz−1/2 and 0.6leqalphaleq1.20.6 leq alpha leq 1.20.6leqalphaleq1.2; Phi0Phi_{0}Phi0​ is the flux quantum. For a qubit with an energy level splitting linearly coupled to the applied flux, our calculations of the dependence of the pure dephasing time tauphitau_phitaup​hi of Ramsey and echo pulse sequences on alphaalphaalpha for fixed AAA show that tauphitau_phitaup​hi decreases rapidly as alphaalphaalpha is reduced. We find that tauphitau_phitaup​hi is relatively insensitive to the noise bandwidth, f1leqfleqf2f_1 leq f leq f_2f1​leqfleqf2​, for all alphaalphaalpha provided the ultraviolet cutoff frequency f2>1/tauphif_2 > 1/tau_phif2​>1/taup​hi. We calculate the ratio tauphi,E/tauphi,Rtau_{phi,E} / tau_{phi,R}tauphi,E​/tauphi,R​ of the echo (EEE) and Ramsey (RRR) sequences, and the dependence of the decay function on alphaalphaalpha and f2f_2f2​. We investigate the case in which SPhi(f0)S_Phi(f_0)SP​hi(f0​) is fixed at the ``pivot frequency'' f0neq1f_0 neq 1f0​neq1~Hz while alphaalphaalpha is varied, and find that the choice of f0f_0f0​ can greatly influence the sensitivity of tauphi,Etau_{phi,E}tauphi,E​ and tauphi,Rtau_{phi,R}tauphi,R​ to the value of alphaalphaalpha.Finally, we conclude with a brief review of our principal results and conclusions. We also comment on promising avenues of future research.