Hybrid materials made of magnets and superconductors give rise to fascinating quantum phenomena, which are so sensitive that it is crucial to measure them with minimal interference. Researchers at the University of Hamburg and the University of Illinois Chicago have now demonstrated, both experimentally and theoretically, how these quantum phenomena can be detected and controlled over longer distances using special techniques with a scanning tunneling microscope.
Their findings, which could be important for topological quantum computers, were published in the journal Nature Physics.
When a magnetic atom is located in a superconductor, so-called Yu-Shiba-Rusinov quasiparticles are created. Normally, they can only be measured with a high detection probability directly at the location of the atom using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope.
A team led by Dr. Jens Wiebe from the Institute for Nanostructure and Solid State Physics at the University of Hamburg and the University of Illinois Chicago has now succeeded in measuring this quantum state over distances more than 20 times its original extent, thereby minimizing interference caused by the measuring probe.
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