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

Wan, Zhong; Kazakov, Aleksandr; Manfra, Michael J; Pfeiffer, Loren N; West, Ken W; Rokhinson, Leonid P · Nat Commun · 2015

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

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.