Superconducting contact and quantum interference between two-dimensional van der Waals and three-dimensional conventional superconductors

• Published in: Physical review materials 2021-01, Vol.5 (1), Article 014001
• Main Authors: Sinko, Michael R., de la Barrera, Sergio C., Lanes, Olivia, Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Tan, Susheng, Pekker, David, Hatridge, Michael, Hunt, Benjamin M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: interfaces; Josephson effect; MATERIALS SCIENCE; superconductivity; transition metal dischalcogenides
• ISSN: 2475-9953; 2475-9953
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.014001

Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) superconductors enable uniform, flat, and clean van der Waals tunneling interfaces, motivating their integration into conventional superconducting circuits. However, fully superconducting contact must be made between the 2D material and three-dimensional (3D) superconductors to employ the standard microwave drive and readout of qubits in such circuits. We present a method for creating zero-resistance contacts between 2D NbSe2 and 3D aluminum that behave as Josephson junctions (JJs) with large effective areas compared to 3D-3D JJs. The devices formed from 2D TMD superconductors are strongly influenced by the geometry of the flakes themselves as well as the placement of the contacts to bulk 3D superconducting leads. We present a model for the supercurrent flow in a 2D-3D superconducting structure by a numerical solution of the Ginzburg-Landau equations and find good agreement with experiment. Finally, these results demonstrate a crucial step towards a new generation of hybrid superconducting quantum circuits.