Publications by Saulius Vaitiekenas

  • 2024
    • Voltage-controlled synthesis of higher harmonics in hybrid Josephson junction circuits - Abstract
      • We report measurements of the current-phase relation of two voltage-controlled semiconductor-superconductor hybrid Josephson junctions (JJs) in series. The two hybrid junctions behave similar to a single-mode JJ with effective transparency determined by the ratio of Josephson coupling strengths of the two junctions. Gate-voltage control of Josephson coupling (measured from switching currents) allows tuning of the harmonic content from sinusoidal, for asymmetric tuning, to highly nonsinusoidal, for symmetric tuning. The experimentally observed tunable harmonic content agrees with a model based on two conventional (sinusoidal) JJs in series.
    • 2402.11603v1 [pdf]
      L. Banszerus, W. Marshall, C. W. Andersson, T. Lindemann, M. J. Manfra, C. M. Marcus, S. Vaitiekėnas
      [pdf]
    • Supercurrent transport through - Abstract
      • We experimentally investigate supercurrent through Coulomb islands, where island and leads are fabricated from semiconducting nanowires with fully surrounding superconducting shells. Applying flux along the wire yields a series of destructive Little-Parks lobes with reentrant supercurrent. We find Coulomb blockade with 2$e$ peak spacing in the zeroth lobe and 1$e$ average spacing, with regions of significant even-odd modulation, in the first lobe. Evolution of Coulomb-peak amplitude through the first lobe is consistent with a theoretical model of supercurrent carried predominantly by zero-energy states in the leads and the island.
    • D. Razmadze, R. Seoane Souto, E. C. T. O'Farrell, P. Krogstrup, M. Leijnse, C. M. Marcus, S. Vaitiekėnas
      Journal reference: Phys. Rev. B 109, L041302 (2024) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.109.L041302
  • 2023
    • Nonsinusoidal current-phase relations in semiconductor–superconductor– ferromagnetic insulator devices - Abstract
      • Coherent tunneling processes of multiple Cooper pairs across a Josephson junction give rise to higher harmonics in the current phase relation. In this work, we propose and study Josephson junctions based on semiconductor-superconductor-ferromagnetic insulator heterostructures to engineer nonsinusoidal current-phase relations. The gate-tunability of charge carriers density in the semiconductor, together with the adjustable magnetization of the ferromagnetic insulator, provides control over the content of the supercurrent harmonics. At finite exchange field, hybrid junctions can undergo a 0\,--\,$\pi$ phase transition, resulting in the supercurrent reversal. Close to the transition, single-pair tunneling is suppressed and the current-phase relation is dominated by the second-harmonic, indicating transport primarily by pairs of Cooper pairs. Finally, we demonstrate that non-collinear magnetization or spin-orbit coupling in the leads and the junction can lead to a gate-tunable Josephson diode effect with efficiencies of up to $\sim30\%$.
    • Andrea Maiani, Karsten Flensberg, Martin Leijnse, Constantin Schrade, Saulius Vaitiekėnas, Rubén Seoane Souto
      Journal reference: Phys. Rev. B 107, 245415 (2023) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.107.245415
    • Supercurrent reversal in ferromagnetic hybrid nanowire Josephson junctions - Abstract
      • We report supercurrent transport measurements in hybrid Josephson junctions comprised of semiconducting InAs nanowires with epitaxial ferromagnetic insulator EuS and superconducting Al coatings. The wires display a hysteretic superconducting window close to the coercivity, away from zero external magnetic field. Using a multi-interferometer setup, we measure the current-phase relation of multiple magnetic junctions and find an abrupt switch between $\pi$ and 0 phases within the superconducting window. We attribute the 0-$\pi$ transition to the discrete flipping of the EuS domains and provide a qualitative theory showing that a sizable exchange field can polarize the junction and lead to the supercurrent reversal. Both $0$ and $\pi$ phases can be realized at zero external field by demagnetizing the wire.
    • D. Razmadze, R. Seoane Souto, L. Galletti, A. Maiani, Y. Liu, P. Krogstrup, C. Schrade, A. Gyenis, C. M. Marcus, S. Vaitiekėnas
      [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.107.L081301
      2204.03202v3 [pdf]
  • 2022
    • Evidence for spin-polarized bound states in semiconductor–superconductor–ferromagnetic-insulator islands - Abstract
      • We report Coulomb blockade transport studies of semiconducting InAs nanowires grown with epitaxial superconducting Al and ferromagnetic insulator EuS on overlapping facets. Comparing experiment to a theoretical model, we associate cotunneling features in even-odd bias spectra with spin-polarized Andreev levels. Results are consistent with zero-field spin splitting exceeding the induced superconducting gap. Energies of subgap states are tunable on either side of zero via electrostatic gates.
    • S. Vaitiekėnas, R. Seoane Souto, Y. Liu, P. Krogstrup, K. Flensberg, M. Leijnse, C. M. Marcus
      Journal reference: Phys. Rev. B 105, L041304 (2022) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.105.L041304
  • 2020
    • Zero-bias peaks at zero magnetic field in ferromagnetic hybrid nanowires - Abstract
      • We report transport measurements and tunneling spectroscopy in hybrid nanowires with epitaxial layers of superconducting Al and the ferromagnetic insulator EuS, grown on semiconducting InAs nanowires. In devices where the Al and EuS covered facets overlap, we infer a remanent effective Zeeman field of order 1 T, and observe stable zero-bias conductance peaks in tunneling spectroscopy into the end of the nanowire, consistent with topological superconductivity at zero applied field. Hysteretic features in critical current and tunneling spectra as a function of applied magnetic field support this picture. Nanowires with non-overlapping Al and EuS covered facets do not show comparable features. Topological superconductivity in zero applied field allows new device geometries and types of control.
    • S. Vaitiekėnas, Y. Liu, P. Krogstrup, C. M. Marcus
      [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1038/s41567-020-1017-3
      2004.02226v1 [pdf]
    • Anomalous metallic phase in tunable destructive superconductors - Abstract
      • Multiply connected superconductors smaller than the coherence length show destructive superconductivity, characterized by reentrant quantum phase transitions driven by magnetic flux. We investigate the dependence of destructive superconductivity on flux, transverse magnetic field, temperature, and current in InAs nanowires with a surrounding epitaxial Al shell, finding excellent agreement with mean-field theory across multiple reentrant transitions. Near the crossover between destructive and nondestructive regimes, an anomalous metal phase is observed with temperature-independent resistance, controlled over two orders of magnitude by a millitesla-scale transverse magnetic field.
    • S. Vaitiekėnas, P. Krogstrup, C. M. Marcus
      Journal reference: Phys. Rev. B 101, 060507 (2020) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.101.060507
    • Flux-induced topological superconductivity in full-shell nanowires - Abstract
      • We demonstrate a novel means of creating Majorana zero modes using magnetic flux applied to a full superconducting shell surrounding a semiconducting nanowire core, unifying approaches based on proximitized nanowires and vortices in topological superconductors. In the destructive Little-Parks regime, reentrant regions of superconductivity are associated with integer number of phase windings in the shell. Tunneling into the core reveals a hard induced gap near zero applied flux, corresponding to zero phase winding, and a gapped region with a discrete zero-energy state for flux around {\Phi}_0 = h/2e, corresponding to 2{\pi} phase winding. Coulomb peak spacing in full-shell islands around one applied flux shows exponentially decreasing deviation from 1e periodicity with device length, consistent with the picture of Majorana modes located at the ends of the wire.
    • S. Vaitiekėnas, M. -T. Deng, P. Krogstrup, C. M. Marcus
      Journal reference: Science 367, eaav3392 (2020) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1126/science.aav3392
  • 2019
    • Semiconductor–Ferromagnetic Insulator–Superconductor Nanowires: Stray Field and Exchange Field - Abstract
      • Nanowires can serve as flexible substrates for hybrid epitaxial growth on selected facets, allowing for design of heterostructures with complex material combinations and geometries. In this work we report on hybrid epitaxy of semiconductor - ferromagnetic insulator - superconductor (InAs/EuS/Al) nanowire heterostructures. We study the crystal growth and complex epitaxial matching of wurtzite InAs / rock-salt EuS interfaces as well as rock-salt EuS / face-centered cubic Al interfaces. Because of the magnetic anisotropy originating from the nanowire shape, the magnetic structure of the EuS phase are easily tuned into single magnetic domains. This effect efficiently ejects the stray field lines along the nanowires. With tunnel spectroscopy measurements of the density of states, we show the material has a hard induced superconducting gap, and magnetic hysteretic evolution which indicates that the magnetic exchange fields are not negligible. These hybrid nanowires fulfil key material requirements for serving as a platform for spin-based quantum applications, such as scalable topological quantum computing.
    • Yu Liu, Saulius Vaitiekenas, Sara Marti-Sanchez, Christian Koch, Sean Hart, Zheng Cui, Thomas Kanne, Sabbir A. Khan, Rawa Tanta, Shivendra Upadhyay, Martin Espineira Cachaza, Charles M. Marcus, Jordi Arbiol, Kathryn A. Moler, Peter Krogstrup
      [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b04187
      1910.03364v1 [pdf]
  • 2018
    • Nonlocality of Majorana modes in hybrid nanowires - Abstract
      • Spatial separation of Majorana zero modes distinguishes trivial from topological midgap states and is key to topological protection in quantum computing applications. Although signatures of Majorana zero modes in tunneling spectroscopy have been reported in numerous studies, a quantitative measure of the degree of separation, or nonlocality, of the emergent zero modes has not been reported. Here, we present results of an experimental study of nonlocality of emergent zero modes in superconductor-semiconductor hybrid nanowire devices. The approach takes advantage of recent theory showing that nonlocality can be measured from splitting due to hybridization of the zero mode in resonance with a quantum dot state at one end of the nanowire. From these splittings as well as anticrossing of the dot states, measured for even and odd occupied quantum dot states, we extract both the degree of nonlocality of the emergent zero mode, as well as the spin canting angles of the nonlocal zero mode. Depending on the device measured, we obtain either a moderate degree of nonlocality, suggesting a partially separated Andreev subgap state, or a highly nonlocal state consistent with a well-developed Majorana mode.
    • M. T. Deng, S. Vaitiekénas, E. Prada, P. San-Jose, J. Nygård, P. Krogstrup, R. Aguado, C. M. Marcus
      Journal reference: Phys. Rev. B 98, 085125 (2018) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.98.085125
    • Effective - Abstract
      • We use the effective g-factor of subgap states, g*, in hybrid InAs nanowires with an epitaxial Al shell to investigate how the superconducting density of states is distributed between the semiconductor core and the metallic shell. We find a step-like reduction of g* and improved hard gap with reduced carrier density in the nanowire, controlled by gate voltage. These observations are relevant for Majorana devices, which require tunable carrier density and g* exceeding the g-factor of the proximitizing superconductor. Additionally, we observe the closing and reopening of a gap in the subgap spectrum coincident with the appearance of a zero-bias conductance peak.
    • S. Vaitiekėnas, M. T. Deng, J. Nygård, P. Krogstrup, C. M. Marcus
      Journal reference: Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 037703 (2018) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.037703
    • Field effect enhancement in buffered quantum nanowire networks - Abstract
      • III-V semiconductor nanowires have shown great potential in various quantum transport experiments. However, realizing a scalable high-quality nanowire-based platform that could lead to quantum information applications has been challenging. Here, we study the potential of selective area growth by molecular beam epitaxy of InAs nanowire networks grown on GaAs-based buffer layers. The buffered geometry allows for substantial elastic strain relaxation and a strong enhancement of field effect mobility. We show that the networks possess strong spin-orbit interaction and long phase coherence lengths with a temperature dependence indicating ballistic transport. With these findings, and the compatibility of the growth method with hybrid epitaxy, we conclude that the material platform fulfills the requirements for a wide range of quantum experiments and applications.
    • Filip Krizek, Joachim E. Sestoft, Pavel Aseev, Sara Marti-Sanchez, Saulius Vaitiekenas, Lucas Casparis, Sabbir A. Khan, Yu Liu, Tomas Stankevic, Alexander M. Whiticar, Alexandra Fursina, Frenk Boekhout, Rene Koops, Emanuele Uccelli, Leo P. Kouwenhoven, Charles M. Marcus, Jordi Arbiol, Peter Krogstrup
      Journal reference: Phys. Rev. Materials 2, 093401 (2018) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.093401
  • 2017
    • Current–phase relations of few-mode InAs nanowire Josephson junctions - Abstract
      • Gate-tunable semiconductor nanowires with superconducting leads have great potential for quantum computation and as model systems for mesoscopic Josephson junctions. The supercurrent, $I$, versus the phase, $\phi$, across the junction is called the current-phase relation (CPR). It can reveal not only the amplitude of the critical current, but also the number of modes and their transmission. We measured the CPR of many individual InAs nanowire Josephson junctions, one junction at a time. Both the amplitude and shape of the CPR varied between junctions, with small critical currents and skewed CPRs indicating few-mode junctions with high transmissions. In a gate-tunable junction, we found that the CPR varied with gate voltage: Near the onset of supercurrent, we observed behavior consistent with resonant tunneling through a single, highly transmitting mode. The gate dependence is consistent with modeled subband structure that includes an effective tunneling barrier due to an abrupt change in the Fermi level at the boundary of the gate-tuned region. These measurements of skewed, tunable, few-mode CPRs are promising both for applications that require anharmonic junctions and for Majorana readout proposals.
    • Eric M. Spanton, Mingtang Deng, Saulius Vaitiekėnas, Peter Krogstrup, Jesper Nygård, Charles M. Marcus, Kathryn A. Moler
      Journal reference: Nature Physics (2017) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1038/nphys4224
  • 2016
    • Majorana bound state in a coupled quantum-dot hybrid-nanowire system - Abstract
      • Hybrid nanowires combining semiconductor and superconductor materials appear well suited for the creation, detection, and control of Majorana bound states (MBSs). We demonstrate the emergence of MBSs from coalescing Andreev bound states (ABSs) in a hybrid InAs nanowire with epitaxial Al, using a quantum dot at the end of the nanowire as a spectrometer. Electrostatic gating tuned the nanowire density to a regime of one or a few ABSs. In an applied axial magnetic field, a topological phase emerges in which ABSs move to zero energy and remain there, forming MBSs. We observed hybridization of the MBS with the end-dot bound state, which is in agreement with a numerical model. The ABS/MBS spectra provide parameters that are useful for understanding topological superconductivity in this system.
    • M. T. Deng, S. Vaitiekenas, E. B. Hansen, J. Danon, M. Leijnse, K. Flensberg, J. Nygård, P. Krogstrup, C. M. Marcus
      Journal reference: Science 354, 1557-1562 (2016) [pdf]
      DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf3961