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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - On the origin of the controversial electrostatic field effect in superconductors
AU - Golokolenov, Ilya
AU - Guthrie, Andrew
AU - Kafanov, Sergey
AU - Pashkin, Yuri
AU - Tsepelin, Viktor
PY - 2021/5/12
Y1 - 2021/5/12
N2 - Superconducting quantum devices offer numerous applications, from electrical metrology and magnetic sensing to energy-efficient high-end computing and advanced quantum information processing. The key elements of quantum circuits are (single and double) Josephson junctions controllable either by electric current or magnetic field. The voltage control, commonly used in semiconductor-based devices via the electrostatic field effect, would be far more versatile and practical. Hence, the field effect recently reported in superconducting devices may revolutionise the whole field of superconductor electronics provided it is confirmed. Here we show that the suppression of the critical current attributed to the field effect, can be explained by quasiparticle excitations in the constriction of superconducting devices. Our results demonstrate that a miniscule leakage current between the gate and the constriction of devices perfectly follows the Fowler-Nordheim model of electron field emission from a metal electrode and injects quasiparticles with energies sufficient to weaken or even suppress superconductivity.
AB - Superconducting quantum devices offer numerous applications, from electrical metrology and magnetic sensing to energy-efficient high-end computing and advanced quantum information processing. The key elements of quantum circuits are (single and double) Josephson junctions controllable either by electric current or magnetic field. The voltage control, commonly used in semiconductor-based devices via the electrostatic field effect, would be far more versatile and practical. Hence, the field effect recently reported in superconducting devices may revolutionise the whole field of superconductor electronics provided it is confirmed. Here we show that the suppression of the critical current attributed to the field effect, can be explained by quasiparticle excitations in the constriction of superconducting devices. Our results demonstrate that a miniscule leakage current between the gate and the constriction of devices perfectly follows the Fowler-Nordheim model of electron field emission from a metal electrode and injects quasiparticles with energies sufficient to weaken or even suppress superconductivity.
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-22998-0
DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-22998-0
M3 - Journal article
VL - 12
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
M1 - 2747
ER -