Thermal and quantum depletion of superconductivity in narrow junctions created by controlled electromigration

Xavier D. A. Baumans (), Dorin Cerbu, Obaïd-Allah Adami, Vyacheslav S. Zharinov, Niels Verellen, Gianpaolo Papari, Jeroen E. Scheerder, Gufei Zhang, Victor V. Moshchalkov, Alejandro V. Silhanek and Joris Van de Vondel
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Xavier D. A. Baumans: Université de Liège
Dorin Cerbu: INPAC—Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry, KU Leuven
Obaïd-Allah Adami: Université de Liège
Vyacheslav S. Zharinov: INPAC—Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry, KU Leuven
Niels Verellen: INPAC—Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry, KU Leuven
Gianpaolo Papari: University Federico II of Naples
Jeroen E. Scheerder: INPAC—Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry, KU Leuven
Gufei Zhang: INPAC—Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry, KU Leuven
Victor V. Moshchalkov: INPAC—Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry, KU Leuven
Alejandro V. Silhanek: Université de Liège
Joris Van de Vondel: INPAC—Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry, KU Leuven

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Superconducting nanowires currently attract great interest due to their application in single-photon detectors and quantum-computing circuits. In this context, it is of fundamental importance to understand the detrimental fluctuations of the superconducting order parameter as the wire width shrinks. In this paper, we use controlled electromigration to narrow down aluminium nanoconstrictions. We demonstrate that a transition from thermally assisted phase slips to quantum phase slips takes place when the cross section becomes less than ∼150 nm2. In the regime dominated by quantum phase slips the nanowire loses its capacity to carry current without dissipation, even at the lowest possible temperature. We also show that the constrictions exhibit a negative magnetoresistance at low-magnetic fields, which can be attributed to the suppression of superconductivity in the contact leads. These findings reveal perspectives of the proposed fabrication method for exploring various fascinating superconducting phenomena in atomic-size contacts.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10560

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