Semiconductors are the foundation of modern technology while superconductors with their zero electrical resistance could become the basis for future technologies, including quantum computers. The carefully crafted sandwiches made from superconductors and semiconductors may lead to new quantum effects. Explanations have remained elusive. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) with NYU collaborated to find a way to investigate what is happening with super-semi sandwiches.
There is an international race to identify the best platform for controlling and processing quantum information for quantum computers, where superconductors play a prominent role. We need to understand the fundamental physics behind them before we can use them.
The study was conducted in close collaboration with partners from New York University and with the help of Areg Ghazaryan and Maksym Serbyn from ISTA. They developed a technique to probe the quantum interactions in super-semi sandwiches paving the way for new applications.
The environment is cold.
The researchers created a sandwich made of a superconductor and InAs. Superconductors have no electrical resistance. They are cooled to absolute zero temperature. Semiconductors like InAs or Silicon can be used to conduct electricity depending on their environment and applied electric field.
In super-semi sandwiches, the combined properties of Al and InAs become modified, just like in a conventional sandwich that becomes more than the sum of its parts. New quantum states can be created at the interface between the Al superconductor and the InAs Semiconductor. Researchers had a hard time studying them because they couldn't be probed directly because of the Al superconducting layer.
We found that by sending a current alternating billions of times a second through the vicinity of the sandwich, we could make the superconductor's veil partially transparent and get feedback about the properties of the Semiconductor.
A new level of detail.
The first experimental result of the Higginbotham group lays the groundwork to study superconductor-semiconductor hybrid structures at a new level of detail. The state-of-the-art clean room, as well as excellent infrastructure provided by the kitchen for sandwich production, make it well placed in this developing field.
When the fundamental physics of this exotic sandwich is understood, Phan and his colleagues are excited about what insights they will gain with their novel probing technique and what future applications may become possible.
More information: D. Phan et al, Detecting Induced p±ip Pairing at the Al-InAs Interface with a Quantum Microwave Circuit, Physical Review Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.107701 Journal information: Physical Review Letters Citation: Characterizing super-semi sandwiches for quantum computing (2022, March 16) retrieved 17 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-characterizing-super-semi-sandwiches-quantum.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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