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arXiv:2311.11867 · Physical Review Letters

Josephson Junction π−0 Transition Induced by Orbital Hybridization in a Double Quantum Dot

Rousan Debbarma, Athanasios Tsintzis, Markus Aspegren, Rubén Seoane Souto, Sebastian Lehmann, Kimberly A. Dick, Martin Leijnse, Claes Thelander

Published Dec 21, 2023• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this Letter, we manipulate the phase shift of a Josephson junction using a parallel double quantum dot (QD). By employing a superconducting quantum interference device, we determine how orbital hybridization and detuning affect the current-phase relation in the Coulomb blockade regime. For weak hybridization between the QDs, we find π junction characteristics if at least one QD has an unpaired electron. Notably the critical current is higher when both QDs have an odd electron occupation. By increasing the inter-QD hybridization the critical current is reduced, until eventually a π-0 transition occurs. A similar transition appears when detuning the QD levels at finite hybridization. Based on a zero-bandwidth model, we argue that both cases of phase-shift transitions can be understood considering an increased weight of states with a double occupancy in the ground state and with the Cooper pair transport dominated by local Andreev reflection.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.131.256001

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In this Letter, we manipulate the phase shift of a Josephson junction using a parallel double quantum dot (QD). By employing a superconducting quantum interference device, we determine how orbital hybridization and detuning affect the current-phase relation in the Coulomb blockade regime. For weak hybridization between the QDs, we find π junction characteristics if at least one QD has an unpaired electron. Notably the critical current is higher when both QDs have an odd electron occupation. By increasing the inter-QD hybridization the critical current is reduced, until eventually a π-0 transition occurs. A similar transition appears when detuning the QD levels at finite hybridization. Based on a zero-bandwidth model, we argue that both cases of phase-shift transitions can be understood considering an increased weight of states with a double occupancy in the ground state and with the Cooper pair transport dominated by local Andreev reflection.
Abstract In this study, we investigate the quantum phase transition in a Josephson junction consisting of parallel-connected quantum dots (QDs) with a magnetic flux φ B threading the central region. Employing the surrogate model approach, we discretize the superconducting (SC) electrode into three discrete energy levels, which enables direct diagonalization of the Hamiltonian to determine the system’s ground state. Our calculations demonstrate that when Coulomb interaction is present in only one QD, the system exhibits a phase transition between singlet and doublet states. The magnetic flux exerts a minor influence on the singlet state while substantially affecting the doublet state. When both QDs possess Coulomb interactions, the system undergoes two successive phase transitions as the SC phase difference increases: the ground state evolves from a doublet to a singlet and subsequently to a triplet state at ϕ = π . Enhancement of the magnetic flux suppresses the doublet and triplet phases, ultimately stabilizing the singlet state. Within this regime, increasing the Coulomb interaction strength U does not trigger a singlet-triplet transition; rather, it induces a transition between upper and lower singlet states, resulting in a pronounced peak in the critical current as U increases. Finally, we explore the scenario where the tunneling self-energy Γ between the QDs and SCs exceeds the SC pairing potential Δ. In this case, doublet states prevail, and the system manifests a phase transition exclusively between doublet and triplet states when ϕ B = 0 . Upon application of a magnetic flux, all three states converge, giving rise to a triple point in the ( φ , φ B ) parameter space.
We study the critical Josephson current flowing through a double quantum dot weakly coupled to two superconducting leads. We use analytical as well as numerical methods to investigate this setup in the limit of small and large bandwidth leads in all possible charging states, where we account for on-site interactions exactly. Our results provide clear signatures of nonlocal spin-entangled pairs, which support interpretations of recent experiments [R. S. Deacon, A. Oiwa, J. Sailer, S. Baba, Y. Kanai, K. Shibata, K. Hirakawa, and S. Tarucha, Nat. Commun. 6, 7446 (2015)]. In addition, we find that the ground state with one electron on each quantum dot can undergo a tunable singlet-triplet phase transition in the regime where the superconducting gap in the leads is not too large, which gives rise to an additional new signature of nonlocal Cooper-pair transport.
We investigate the Josephson current through a suspended carbon nanotube double quantum dot which, at sufficiently low temperatures, is characterized by the ground state of the electronic subsystem. Depending on parameters such as a magnetic field or the interdot coupling, the ground state can either be a current-carrying singlet or doublet, or a blockaded triplet state. Since the electron-vibration interaction has been demonstrated to be electrostatically tunable, we study in particular its effect on the current-phase relation. We show that the coupling to the vibration mode can lift the current-suppressing triplet blockade by inducing a quantum phase transition to a ground state of a different total spin. Our key finding is the development of a triple point in the Josephson current parametrized by the resonator coupling and the Josephson phase. The quantum phase transitions around the triple point are directly accessible through the critical current and resilient to moderately finite temperatures. The proposed setup makes the mechanical degree of freedom part of a superconducting hybrid device which is interesting for ultrasensitive displacement detectors.
We consider a Josephson junction formed by a quantum dot connected to two bulk superconductors in the presence of Coulomb interaction and coupling to both an electromagnetic environment and a finite density of electronic quasiparticles. In the limit of a large superconducting gap we obtain a Born-Markov description of the relevant Andreev bound-states dynamics. We calculate the current-phase relation and we find that the experimentally unavoidable presence of quasiparticles can dramatically modify the 0-π standard transition picture. We show that photon-assisted quasiparticle absorption allows the dynamic switching from the 0 to the π state and vice versa, washing out the 0-π transition predicted by purely thermodynamic arguments. Spectroscopic signatures of Andreev bound-states broadening are investigated by considering microwave irradiation.
We investigate nonequilibrium transport through superconducting nanojunctions using a Liouville space approach. The formalism allows us to study finite-gap effects, and to account for both quasiparticle and Cooper-pair tunneling. With focus on the weak-tunneling limit, we study the stationary dc and ac current up to second order (cotunneling) in the hybridization energy. For the particular case of a strongly interacting quantum dot sandwiched between two superconductors, we identify the characteristic virtual processes that yield the Andreev and Josephson current and obtain the dependence on the gate and bias voltage for the dc current, the critical current, and the phase-dependent dissipative current. In particular, the critical current is characterized by regions in the stability diagram in which its sign changes from positive to negative, resulting in a multitude of $0\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\pi}$ transitions. The latter signal the interplay between strong interactions and tunneling at finite bias.
Josephson junctions based on quantum dots offer a convenient tunability by means of local gates. Here we analyze a Josephson junction based on a serial double quantum dot in which the two dots are individually gated by phase-shifted microwave tones of equal frequency. We calculate the time-averaged current across the junction and determine how the phase shift between the drives modifies the current-phase relation of the junction. Breaking particle-hole symmetry on the dots is found to give rise to a finite average anomalous Josephson current with phase bias between the superconductors fixed to zero. This microwave gated weak link thus realizes a tunable ``Floquet ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}_{0}$ junction'' with maximum critical current achieved for driving frequencies slightly off resonance with the subgap excitation energy. We provide numerical results supported by an analytical analysis for infinite superconducting gap and weak interdot coupling. We identify an interaction-driven $0\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\pi}$ transition of anomalous Josephson current as a function of driving phase difference. Finally, we show that this junction can be tuned so as to provide for complete rectification of the time-averaged Josephson current-phase relation.