1. Intermediate states in Andreev bound state fusion
- Author
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Christian Jünger, Sebastian Lehmann, Kimberly A. Dick, Claes Thelander, Christian Schönenberger, and Andreas Baumgartner
- Subjects
Astrophysics ,QB460-466 ,Physics ,QC1-999 - Abstract
Abstract Hybridization is one of the most fundamental quantum mechanical phenomena, with the text book example of binding two hydrogen atoms in a hydrogen molecule. Here we report tunnel spectroscopy experiments illustrating the hybridization of another type of discrete quantum states, namely of superconducting subgap states that form in segments of a semiconducting nanowire in contact with superconducting reservoirs. We discuss a collection of intermediate states with unique (tunnel) spectroscopic fingerprints in the process of merging well-known individual bound states, hybridized by a central quantum dot and eventually coherently linking the reservoirs, carrying a Josephson current. These coupled and fused Andreev bound states can be seen as superconducting analogues to atomic and molecular single electron states in nature, and explain a variety of recent bound state spectra, with specific fingerprints that will have to be winnowed in future Majorana fusion experiments.
- Published
- 2023
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