Description du projet
Un spectromètre à jonction Josephson adapté aux systèmes mésoscopiques
Les systèmes mésoscopiques sont plus grands que quelques atomes ou molécules, mais plus petits que les objets du quotidien que nous pouvons voir et toucher. Ils constituent un banc d’essai intéressant pour étudier l’interface entre la mécanique quantique et les systèmes macroscopiques. Les dispositifs mésoscopiques, qui préservent la cohérence quantique sur des tronçons supérieurs à l’échelle atomique, offrent une occasion unique de concevoir et d’étudier les excitations au niveau des quanta uniques. Toutefois, les méthodes spectroscopiques actuelles ne permettent pas d’explorer les systèmes mésoscopiques à l’aide de radiations et de détecter leurs faibles signaux d’absorption. Le projet JSPEC, financé par le Conseil européen de la recherche, prévoit de mettre au point un spectromètre sur puce à jonction Josephson, qui sera parfaitement adapté pour explorer les excitations élémentaires dans les systèmes mésoscopiques.
Objectif
Spectroscopy is a powerful tool to probe matter. By measuring the spectrum of elementary excitations, one reveals the symmetries and interactions inherent in a physical system. Mesoscopic devices, which preserve quantum coherence over lengths larger than the atomic scale, offer a unique possibility to both engineer and investigate excitations at the single quanta level. Unfortunately, conventional spectroscopy techniques are inadequate for coupling radiation to mesoscopic systems and detecting their small absorption signals. I propose an on-chip, Josephson-junction based spectrometer which surpasses state-of-the-art instruments and is ideally suited for probing elementary excitations in mesoscopic systems. It has an original design providing uniform wideband coupling from 2-2000 GHz, low background noise, high sensitivity, and narrow linewidth.
I describe the operating principle and design of the spectrometer, show preliminary results demonstrating proof-of-concept, and outline three experiments which exploit the spectrometer to address important issues in condensed matter physics. The experiments are: measuring the lifetime of single quasiparticle and excited Cooper pair states in superconductors, a topic relevant for quantum information processing; determining whether graphene has a bandgap, a fundamental yet unresolved question; and recording a clear spectroscopic signature of Majorana bound states in topological superconductor weak links.
Various applications of the superconducting circuits developed for the spectrometer include a Josephson vector network analyzer, a cryogenic mixer, a THz camera, a detector for radioastronomy, and a scanning microwave impedance microscope. In itself the proposed JJ spectrometer is a general purpose tool that will benefit researchers studying mesoscopic systems. Ultimately, Josephson junction spectroscopy should not only be useful to detect existing elementary excitations but also to discover new ones.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopy
- natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicsmesoscopic physics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyphysical cosmology
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssuperconductivity
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy
Programme(s)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitution d’accueil
75005 Paris
France