The feedback driven atomic scale Josephson microscope
Abstract The ultimate spatial limit to establish a Josephson coupling between two superconducting electrodes is an atomic-scale junction. The Josephson effect in such ultrasmall junctions has been used to unveil new switching dynamics, study coupling close to superconducting bound states or reveal n...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60569-9 |
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| author | Samuel D. Escribano Víctor Barrena David Perconte Jose Antonio Moreno Marta Fernández Lomana Miguel Águeda Edwin Herrera Beilun Wu Jose Gabriel Rodrigo Elsa Prada Isabel Guillamón Alfredo Levy Yeyati Hermann Suderow |
| author_facet | Samuel D. Escribano Víctor Barrena David Perconte Jose Antonio Moreno Marta Fernández Lomana Miguel Águeda Edwin Herrera Beilun Wu Jose Gabriel Rodrigo Elsa Prada Isabel Guillamón Alfredo Levy Yeyati Hermann Suderow |
| author_sort | Samuel D. Escribano |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The ultimate spatial limit to establish a Josephson coupling between two superconducting electrodes is an atomic-scale junction. The Josephson effect in such ultrasmall junctions has been used to unveil new switching dynamics, study coupling close to superconducting bound states or reveal non-reciprocal effects. However, the Josephson coupling is weak and the sensitivity to temperature reduces the Cooper pair current magnitude. Here we show that a feedback element induces a time-dependent bistable regime which consists of spontaneous periodic oscillations between two different Cooper pair tunneling states (corresponding to the DC and AC Josephson regimes respectively). The amplitude of the time-averaged current within the bistable regime is almost independent of temperature. By tracing the periodic oscillations in the new bistable regime as a function of the position in a Scanning Tunneling Microscope, we obtain atomic scale maps of the critical current in 2H-NbSe2 and find spatial modulations due to a pair density wave. Our results fundamentally improve our understanding of atomic size Josephson junctions including a feedback element in the circuit and provide a promising new route to study superconducting materials through atomic scale maps of the Josephson coupling. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-67dc06f14c134c2fb3cb4e6cf6b6558e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-67dc06f14c134c2fb3cb4e6cf6b6558e2025-08-20T03:37:37ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111010.1038/s41467-025-60569-9The feedback driven atomic scale Josephson microscopeSamuel D. Escribano0Víctor Barrena1David Perconte2Jose Antonio Moreno3Marta Fernández Lomana4Miguel Águeda5Edwin Herrera6Beilun Wu7Jose Gabriel Rodrigo8Elsa Prada9Isabel Guillamón10Alfredo Levy Yeyati11Hermann Suderow12Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Universidad Autónoma de MadridLaboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridLaboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridLaboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridLaboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridLaboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridLaboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridLaboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridLaboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridInstituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Laboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridDepartamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Universidad Autónoma de MadridLaboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC), Unidad Asociada UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de MadridAbstract The ultimate spatial limit to establish a Josephson coupling between two superconducting electrodes is an atomic-scale junction. The Josephson effect in such ultrasmall junctions has been used to unveil new switching dynamics, study coupling close to superconducting bound states or reveal non-reciprocal effects. However, the Josephson coupling is weak and the sensitivity to temperature reduces the Cooper pair current magnitude. Here we show that a feedback element induces a time-dependent bistable regime which consists of spontaneous periodic oscillations between two different Cooper pair tunneling states (corresponding to the DC and AC Josephson regimes respectively). The amplitude of the time-averaged current within the bistable regime is almost independent of temperature. By tracing the periodic oscillations in the new bistable regime as a function of the position in a Scanning Tunneling Microscope, we obtain atomic scale maps of the critical current in 2H-NbSe2 and find spatial modulations due to a pair density wave. Our results fundamentally improve our understanding of atomic size Josephson junctions including a feedback element in the circuit and provide a promising new route to study superconducting materials through atomic scale maps of the Josephson coupling.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60569-9 |
| spellingShingle | Samuel D. Escribano Víctor Barrena David Perconte Jose Antonio Moreno Marta Fernández Lomana Miguel Águeda Edwin Herrera Beilun Wu Jose Gabriel Rodrigo Elsa Prada Isabel Guillamón Alfredo Levy Yeyati Hermann Suderow The feedback driven atomic scale Josephson microscope Nature Communications |
| title | The feedback driven atomic scale Josephson microscope |
| title_full | The feedback driven atomic scale Josephson microscope |
| title_fullStr | The feedback driven atomic scale Josephson microscope |
| title_full_unstemmed | The feedback driven atomic scale Josephson microscope |
| title_short | The feedback driven atomic scale Josephson microscope |
| title_sort | feedback driven atomic scale josephson microscope |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60569-9 |
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