InAs nanowire superconducting tunnel junctions: spectroscopy, thermometry and nanorefrigeration

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel method for fabricating high-quality superconducting tunnel junctions with InAs nanowires, demonstrating their use as thermometers and for active electron cooling at millikelvin temperatures.

Contribution

The authors introduce a controlled oxidation technique to create superconducting tunnel junctions with InAs nanowires, enabling thermometry and nanorefrigeration with significant cooling effects.

Findings

Achieved over 4 orders of magnitude current suppression below the Al gap.

Demonstrated active electron cooling of about 10 mK.

Observed experimental results consistent with BCS theory.

Abstract

We demonstrate an original method -- based on controlled oxidation -- to create high-quality tunnel junctions between superconducting Al reservoirs and InAs semiconductor nanowires. We show clean tunnel characteristics with a current suppression by over $4$ orders of magnitude for a junction bias well below the Al gap $\Delta_0 \approx 200\,\mu {\rm eV}$. The experimental data are in close agreement with the BCS theoretical expectations of a superconducting tunnel junction. The studied devices combine small-scale tunnel contacts working as thermometers as well as larger electrodes that provide a proof-of-principle active {\em cooling} of the electron distribution in the nanowire. A peak refrigeration of about $\delta T = 10\,{\rm mK}$ is achieved at a bath temperature $T_{bath}\approx250-350\,{\rm mK}$ in our prototype devices. This method opens important perspectives for the investigation of thermoelectric effects in semiconductor nanostructures and for nanoscale refrigeration.