Recombination of localized quasiparticles in disordered superconductors

Steven A. H. Rooij (), Remko Fermin, Kevin Kouwenhoven, Tonny Coppens, Vignesh Murugesan, David J. Thoen, Jan Aarts, Jochem J. A. Baselmans and Pieter J. Visser
Additional contact information
Steven A. H. Rooij: SRON-Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Remko Fermin: University of Cambridge
Kevin Kouwenhoven: SRON-Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Tonny Coppens: SRON-Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Vignesh Murugesan: SRON-Space Research Organisation Netherlands
David J. Thoen: SRON-Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Jan Aarts: Leiden University
Jochem J. A. Baselmans: SRON-Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Pieter J. Visser: SRON-Space Research Organisation Netherlands

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Disordered superconductors offer new impedance regimes for quantum circuits, enable a pathway to protected qubits, and can improve superconducting detectors due to their high kinetic inductance and sheet resistance. The performance of these devices can be limited, however, by quasiparticles—the fundamental excitations of a superconductor. While experiments have shown that disorder affects the relaxation of quasiparticles drastically, the microscopic mechanisms are still not understood. We address this issue by measuring quasiparticle relaxation in a disordered β-Ta film, which we pattern as the inductor of a microwave resonator. We observe that quasiparticle recombination is governed by the phonon scattering time, which is faster than conventional recombination in ordered superconductors. We interpret the results as recombination of localized quasiparticles, induced by disorder, which first delocalize via phonon absorption. We analyze quasiparticle relaxation measurements on superconductors with different degrees of disorder and conclude that this phenomenon is inherent to disordered superconductors.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63321-5 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-63321-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63321-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().