IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v8y2017i1d10.1038_ncomms14984.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Magnetically-driven colossal supercurrent enhancement in InAs nanowire Josephson junctions

Author

Listed:
  • J. Tiira

    (NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore)

  • E. Strambini

    (NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore)

  • M. Amado

    (NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore
    Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge)

  • S. Roddaro

    (NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore)

  • P. San-Jose

    (Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMM-CSIC))

  • R. Aguado

    (Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMM-CSIC))

  • F. S. Bergeret

    (Centro de Fisica de Materiales (CFM-MPC), Centro Mixto CSIC-UPV/EHU
    Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC))

  • D. Ercolani

    (NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore)

  • L. Sorba

    (NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore)

  • F. Giazotto

    (NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore)

Abstract

The Josephson effect is a fundamental quantum phenomenon where a dissipationless supercurrent is introduced in a weak link between two superconducting electrodes by Andreev reflections. The physical details and topology of the junction drastically modify the properties of the supercurrent and a strong enhancement of the critical supercurrent is expected to occur when the topology of the junction allows an emergence of Majorana bound states. Here we report charge transport measurements in mesoscopic Josephson junctions formed by InAs nanowires and Ti/Al superconducting leads. Our main observation is a colossal enhancement of the critical supercurrent induced by an external magnetic field applied perpendicular to the substrate. This striking and anomalous supercurrent enhancement cannot be described by any known conventional phenomenon of Josephson junctions. We consider these results in the context of topological superconductivity, and show that the observed critical supercurrent enhancement is compatible with a magnetic field-induced topological transition.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Tiira & E. Strambini & M. Amado & S. Roddaro & P. San-Jose & R. Aguado & F. S. Bergeret & D. Ercolani & L. Sorba & F. Giazotto, 2017. "Magnetically-driven colossal supercurrent enhancement in InAs nanowire Josephson junctions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14984
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14984
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14984
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms14984?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14984. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.