Abstract
Coupling a two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor heterostructure to a superconductor opens new research and technology opportunities, including fundamental problems in mesoscopic superconductivity, scalable superconducting electronics, and new topological states of matter. One route towards topological matter is by coupling a 2D electron gas with strong spin-orbit interaction to an s-wave superconductor. Previous efforts along these lines have been adversely affected by interface disorder and unstable gating. Here we show measurements on a gateable InGaAs/InAs 2DEG with patterned epitaxial Al, yielding devices with atomically pristine interfaces between semiconductor and superconductor. Using surface gates to form a quantum point contact (QPC), we find a hard superconducting gap in the tunnelling regime. When the QPC is in the open regime, we observe a first conductance plateau at 4e(2)/h, consistent with theory. The hard-gap semiconductor-superconductor system demonstrated here is amenable to top-down processing and provides a new avenue towards low-dissipation electronics and topological quantum systems.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 12841 |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 7 |
Number of pages | 6 |
ISSN | 2041-1723 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 30 Sep 2016 |