Fluxoid valve effect in full-shell nanowire Josephson junctions

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Payá, Carlos, Matute-Cañadas, F. J., Yeyati, A. Levy, Aguado, Ramón, San-Jose, Pablo, Prada, Elsa
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917025380564992
author Payá, Carlos
Matute-Cañadas, F. J.
Yeyati, A. Levy
Aguado, Ramón
San-Jose, Pablo
Prada, Elsa
author_facet Payá, Carlos
Matute-Cañadas, F. J.
Yeyati, A. Levy
Aguado, Ramón
San-Jose, Pablo
Prada, Elsa
contents We introduce a new type of supercurrent valve based on full-shell nanowires. These hybrid wires consist of a semiconductor core fully wrapped in a thin superconductor shell and subjected to an axial magnetic field. Due to the tubular shape of the shell, the superconductor phase acquires an integer number $n$ of $2π$ twists or \textit{fluxoids} that increases in steps with applied flux. By connecting two such hybrid wires, forming a Josephson junction (JJ), a flux-modulated supercurrent develops. If the two superconducting sections of the JJ have different radii $R_1$ and $R_2$, they can develop equal or different fluxoid numbers $n_1,n_2$ depending on the field. If $n_1\neq n_2$ the supercurrent is blocked, while it remains finite for $n_1=n_2$. This gives rise to a fluxoid valve effect controlled by the applied magnetic field or a gate voltage at the junction. We define a fluxoid-valve quality factor that is perfect for cylindrically symmetric systems and decreases as this symmetry is reduced. We further discuss the role of Majorana zero modes at the junction when the full-shell nanowires are in the topological superconducting regime.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_16989
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Fluxoid valve effect in full-shell nanowire Josephson junctions
Payá, Carlos
Matute-Cañadas, F. J.
Yeyati, A. Levy
Aguado, Ramón
San-Jose, Pablo
Prada, Elsa
Superconductivity
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
We introduce a new type of supercurrent valve based on full-shell nanowires. These hybrid wires consist of a semiconductor core fully wrapped in a thin superconductor shell and subjected to an axial magnetic field. Due to the tubular shape of the shell, the superconductor phase acquires an integer number $n$ of $2π$ twists or \textit{fluxoids} that increases in steps with applied flux. By connecting two such hybrid wires, forming a Josephson junction (JJ), a flux-modulated supercurrent develops. If the two superconducting sections of the JJ have different radii $R_1$ and $R_2$, they can develop equal or different fluxoid numbers $n_1,n_2$ depending on the field. If $n_1\neq n_2$ the supercurrent is blocked, while it remains finite for $n_1=n_2$. This gives rise to a fluxoid valve effect controlled by the applied magnetic field or a gate voltage at the junction. We define a fluxoid-valve quality factor that is perfect for cylindrically symmetric systems and decreases as this symmetry is reduced. We further discuss the role of Majorana zero modes at the junction when the full-shell nanowires are in the topological superconducting regime.
title Fluxoid valve effect in full-shell nanowire Josephson junctions
topic Superconductivity
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.16989