English

Predicted third-order sweet spots for phi-junction Josephson parametric amplifiers

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2026-03-25 v2 Superconductivity Quantum Physics

Abstract

Hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire Josephson junctions exhibit skewed and phi-shifted current phase relations when an in-plane magnetic field is applied along the weak link's spin-orbit effective field direction. These junctions can have an asymmetric Josephson potential with odd-order nonlinearities. A dominant third-order nonlinearity can be achieved by tuning the magnetic field to a sweet spot. Sweet spots persist when higher order Josephson harmonics are included. This makes it possible to have a single Josephson junction dipole element with three-wave mixing capability, which is favorable for pump-efficient amplification. Electrostatic gate tunability of the semiconductor weak link can make it operable within an extended range of working frequencies, and the inclusion of micromagnets can facilitate near-zero magnetic field operation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2503.19891,
  title  = {Predicted third-order sweet spots for phi-junction Josephson parametric amplifiers},
  author = {Tasnum Reza and Sergey M. Frolov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.19891},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Code available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15051844

R2 v1 2026-06-28T22:34:10.717Z