Vortex control in superconducting Corbino geometry networks

Physical review. B./Physical review. B, vol. 106

Abstract

In superconductors, vortices induced by a magnetic field are nucleated where some random fluctuations determine the nucleation position, and then may be pinned by impurities or boundaries, impeding the development of vortex-based quantum devices. Here, we propose a superconducting structure, which allows to nucleate and control vortices on-demand by controlling magnetic fields and currents. Using time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, we study a driven vortex motion in two-dimensional Corbino geometries of superconductor-normal metal-superconductor Josephson junctions. We remedy the randomness of nucleation by introducing normal conducting rails to the Corbino disk to guide the nucleation process and motion of vortices towards the junction. We elaborate on the consequences of rail-vortex and vortex-vortex interactions to the quantization of resistance across the junction. Finally, we simulate the nucleations and manipulations of two and four vortices in Corbino networks, and discuss its application to Majorana zero mode braiding operations. Our study provides a potential route towards quantum computation with non-Abelian anyons.

Authors 4

1. Takuya Okugawa Aachen Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik, RWTH Aachen, 52056 Aachen, Germany and JARA - Fundamentals of Future Information Technology

2. Sunghun Park

   Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

   Affiliation as printed

   Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC) and Instituto Nicolás Cabrera, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain

3. Patrik Recher

   Technische Universität Braunschweig

   Affiliation as printed

   Institut für Mathematische Physik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany

   Laboratory for Emerging Nanometrology Braunschweig, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany

4. Dante Marvin Kennes Aachen Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · Center for Free-Electron Laser Science · Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik, RWTH Aachen, 52056 Aachen, Germany and JARA - Fundamentals of Future Information Technology

   Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free Electron Laser Science, 22761 Hamburg, Germany