Magnetically-driven colossal supercurrent enhancement in InAs nanowire Josephson junctions

TL;DR

This paper reports a remarkable magnetic field-induced enhancement of supercurrent in InAs nanowire Josephson junctions, suggesting a possible topological transition and the emergence of Majorana states.

Contribution

It presents experimental evidence of colossal supercurrent enhancement under magnetic field, linking it to topological superconductivity in InAs nanowire junctions.

Findings

Supercurrent is significantly enhanced by magnetic field.

Conventional explanations like Fraunhofer diffraction are ruled out.

Results are consistent with a magnetic field-induced topological transition.

Abstract

The Josephson effect is a fundamental quantum phenomenon consisting in the appearance of a dissipationless supercurrent in a weak link between two superconducting (S) electrodes. While the mechanism leading to the Josephson effect is quite general, i.e., Andreev reflections at the interface between the S electrodes and the weak link, the precise physical details and topology of the junction drastically modify the properties of the supercurrent. Specifically, a strong enhancement of the critical supercurrent $I_C$ is expected to occur when the topology of the junction allows the 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 ascribed to any known conventional phenomenon existing in Josephson junctions including, for instance, Fraunhofer-like diffraction or a $\pi$-state behavior. We also investigate an unconventional model related to inhomogenous Zeeman field caused by magnetic focusing, and note that it can not account for the observed behaviour. Finally, we consider these results in the context of topological superconductivity, and show that the observed $I_C$ enhancement is compatible with a magnetic field-induced topological transition of the junction.