Quantum Dots Coupled to Superconductors

Abstract

The search for Majoranas bound states has witnessed heated efforts in the past decade. This field of research lies at the intersection of both scientific and commercial interests. The Majorana quasiparticle, being its own antiparticle and exhibiting non-abelian exchange statistics, is a unique member of the family of condensed-matter quasiparticles, distinct from most fermions or bosons. These properties are predicted to be instrumental in the building of a new type of qubits, having no energy splitting between qubit states and intrinsically protected from decoherence. In addition, the theory describing Majorana modes has a rich connection to the mathematical language of topology, making its study also of theoretical value. Thus, the prediction of the existence of Majorana zero modes in hybrid semiconducting-superconducting nanowires has been a strong driving force behind the recent technological progress in the making of these materials and devices.
In this thesis, the most recent advance in materials, specifically the making of clean interfaces between semiconductors and superconductors, are applied to the study of the physical properties of superconducting-proximitized electronic states in semiconductors. This technology is combined with quantum dot techniques to investigate electron transport between individual quantum states in proximitized nanowires. The findings include better understanding of electron transport in these systems as well as presenting new potential applications to the field of Majoranas and beyond.
Following the introductory chapters, this thesis first demonstrates a high-efficiency Cooper-pair splitter, enabled by quantum dots with narrow linewidth and a superconductor with a hard gap. The techniques behind the improved efficiency can be used to make a generator of entangled pairs of electrons. We also demonstrate the use of quantum dots as spin detectors capable of revealing the spin structure of individual Cooper pairs. Next, we report the effect of a Cooper-pair splitter's peculiar response to the tuning of electrical gates in both experiment and theory. This includes the discovery of a new interference effect in electron co-tunneling processes through a superconductor. The key to observing this response is to ensure the hybrid nanowire is also a discrete quantum state instead of a superconducting bulk. The discovery above forms the foundation of fine-tuning the types of electron couplings between two quantum dots coupled via a superconductor. The power of this tunability can been seen via the successful making of a minimal artificial Kitaev chain, opening up new possibilities in the search for Majorana zero modes. This approach is less prone to difficulties encountered in other platforms such as material disorder and the interpretability of data.
Moving from studying quantum dots under the influence of a superconducting hybrid, later chapters of this thesis focus on investigating electron properties in the hybrid nanowire using quantum dots as spin-, charge- and energy-selective probes.
We first use them to detect and quantify the spin polarization of Andreev bound states in the hybrid nanowire. Using quantum dots as charge and energy detectors instead, we observe how electrons traverse through the bulk of a hybrid nanowire and reveal a thermoelectric conversion process in the conductance measurements of these devices. Finally, we report on the selective-area growth of InSb, the semiconductor used throughout this thesis, that can form the basis of future developments.