Aleksandr Kazakov

Induced superconductivity in high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas in gallium arsenide heterostructures

Search for Majorana fermions renewed interest in semiconductor–superconductor interfaces, while a quest for higher-order non-Abelian excitations demands formation of superconducting contacts to materials with fractionalized excitations, such as a two-dimensional electron gas in a fractional quantum Hall regime. Here we report induced superconductivity in high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas in gallium arsenide heterostructures and development of highly transparent semiconductor–superconductor ohmic contacts. Supercurrent with characteristic temperature dependence of a ballistic junction has been observed across 0.6 μm, a regime previously achieved only in point contacts but essential to the formation of well separated non-Abelian states. High critical fields (>16 T) in NbN contacts enables investigation of an interplay between superconductivity and strongly correlated states in a two-dimensional electron gas at high magnetic fields.

Electrostatic control of quantum Hall ferromagnetic transition: A step toward reconfigurable network of helical channels

Ferromagnetic transitions between quantum Hall states with different polarization at a fixed filling factor can be studied by varying the ratio of cyclotron and Zeeman energies in tilted magnetic field experiments. However, an ability to locally control such transitions at a fixed magnetic field would open a range of attractive applications, e.g. formation of a reconfigurable network of one-dimensional helical domain walls in a two-dimensional plane. Coupled to a superconductor, such domain walls can support non-Abelian excitation. In this article we report development of heterostructures where quantum Hall ferromagnetic (QHFm) transition can be controlled locally by electrostatic gating. A high mobility two-dimensional electron gas is formed in CdTe quantum wells with engineered placement of paramagnetic Mn impurities. Gate-induced electrostatic field shifts electron wavefunction in the growth direction and changes overlap between electrons in the quantum well and d-shell electrons on Mn, thus controlling the s-d exchange interaction and the field of the QHFm transition. The demonstrated shift of the QHFm transition at a filling factor

Mesoscopic Transport in Electrostatically Defined Spin-Full Channels in Quantum Hall Ferromagnets

\nu=2

Gate control of spin polarization in a quantum Hall regime toward reconfigurable network of helical channels(Conference Presentation)

is large enough to allow full control of spin polarization at a fixed magnetic field.

Anomalous low-temperature enhancement of supercurrent in topological-insulator nanoribbon Josephson junctions: evidence for low-energy Andreev bound states

In this work, we use electrostatic control of quantum Hall ferromagnetic transitions in CdMnTe quantum wells to study electron transport through individual domain walls (DWs) induced at a specific location. These DWs are formed due to the hybridization of two counterpropagating edge states with opposite spin polarization. Conduction through DWs is found to be symmetric under magnetic field direction reversal, consistent with the helical nature of these DWs. We observe that long domain walls are in the insulating regime with a localization length of 4-6  μm. In shorter DWs, the resistance saturates to a nonzero value at low temperatures. Mesoscopic resistance fluctuations in a magnetic field are investigated. The theoretical model of transport through impurity states within the gap induced by spin-orbit interactions agrees well with the experimental data. Helical DWs have the required symmetry for the formation of synthetic p-wave superconductors. The achieved electrostatic control of a single helical domain wall is a milestone on the path to their reconfigurable network and ultimately to a demonstration of the braiding of non-Abelian excitations.

Formation of helical domain walls in the fractional quantum Hall regime as a step toward realization of high-order non-Abelian excitations

Several experiments in nanowires detected signatures of Majorana fermions, building block for topologicaly protected quantum computer. Now the focus of research is shifting toward systems where non-Abelian statistics of excitations can be demonstrated. To achieve this goal we are developing a new dilute magnetic semiconductor-based platform where non-Abelian excitations can be created and manipulated in a two-dimensional plane, with support for Majorana and higher order non-Abelian excitations. Here we report development of heterostructures where spin polarization of a two-dimensional electron gas in a quantum Hall regime can be controlled locally by electrostatic gating. This is demonstrated via voltage induced shift of quantum Hall ferromagnetic transition in the CdTe quantum wells with engineered placement of paramagnetic Mn impurities. The structures can be used to form helical domain walls in integer quantum Hall regime which, coupled to an s-wave superconductor, are expected to support Majorana zero modes. These heterostructures can be used as a testbed to study gate-reconfigurable domain walls networks.