Supercurrent through a single transverse mode in nanowire Josephson junctions

TL;DR

This paper investigates supercurrent behavior in nanowire Josephson junctions with superconductor shells, revealing long decay lengths in magnetic fields and the impact of subband polarization on supercurrent suppression.

Contribution

It demonstrates supercurrent through a single transverse mode in nanowire Josephson junctions with a detailed analysis of magnetic field effects and subband polarization.

Findings

Supercurrent persists up to 1 Tesla magnetic field.

Supercurrent decay varies with subband occupation.

Spin polarization of the first subband suppresses supercurrent.

Abstract

Hybrid superconductor-semiconductor materials are fueling research in mesoscopic physics and quantum technology. Recently demonstrated smooth $\beta$-Sn superconductor shells, due to the increased induced gap, are expanding the available parameter space to new regimes. Fabricated on quasiballistic InSb nanowires, with careful control over the hybrid interface, Sn shells yield measurable switching currents even when nanowire resistance is of order 10kohm. In this regime Cooper pairs travel through a purely 1D quantum wire for at least part of their trajectory. Here, we focus on the evolution of proximity-induced supercurrent in magnetic field parallel to the nanowire. Long decay up to fields of 1T is observed. At the same time, the decay for higher occupied subbands is notably faster in some devices but not in others. We analyze this using a tight-binding numerical model that includes the Zeeman, orbital and spin-orbit effects. When the first subband is spin polarized, we observe a dramatic suppression of supercurrent, which is also confirmed by the model and suggests an absence of significant triplet supercurrent generation.