Half-integer Shapiro steps in highly transmissive InSb nanoflag Josephson junctions

Andrea Iorio, Alessandro Crippa, Bianca Turini, Sedighe Salimian, Matteo Carrega, Luca Chirolli, Valentina Zannier, Lucia Sorba, Elia Strambini, Francesco Giazotto, Stefan Heun

We investigate a ballistic InSb nanoflag-based Josephson junction with Nb superconducting contacts. The high transparency of the superconductor-semiconductor interfaces enables the exploration of quantum transport with parallel short and long conducting channels. Under microwave irradiation, we observe half-integer Shapiro steps that are robust to temperature, suggesting their possible nonequilibrium origin. Our results demonstrate the potential of ballistic InSb nanoflags Josephson junctions as a valuable platform for understanding the physics of hybrid devices and investigating their nonequilibrium dynamics.

Reference:

Phys. Rev. Res. 5 (2023) 033015.