A tunable monolithic SQUID in twisted bilayer graphene.
Elías PortolésShuichi IwakiriGiulia ZhengPeter RickhausTakashi TaniguchiKenji WatanabeThomas IhnKlaus EnsslinFolkert K de VriesPublished in: Nature nanotechnology (2022)
Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) hosts a number of correlated states of matter that can be tuned by electrostatic doping 1-4 . Transport 5,6 and scanning-probe 7-9 experiments have shown evidence for band, correlated and Chern insulators along with superconductivity. This variety of in situ tunable states has allowed for the realization of tunable Josephson junctions 10-12 . However, although phase-coherent phenomena have been measured 10-12 , no control of the phase difference of the superconducting condensates has been demonstrated so far. Here we build on previous gate-defined junction realizations and form a superconducting quantum interference device 13 (SQUID) in MATBG, where the superconducting phase difference is controlled through the magnetic field. We observe magneto-oscillations of the critical current, demonstrating long-range coherence of superconducting charge carriers with an effective charge of 2e. We tune to both asymmetric and symmetric SQUID configurations by electrostatically controlling the critical currents through the junctions. This tunability allows us to study the inductances in the device, finding values of up to 2 μH. Furthermore, we directly probe the current-phase relation of one of the junctions of the device. Our results show that complex devices in MATBG can be realized and used to reveal the properties of the material. We envision our findings, together with the established history of applications SQUIDs have 14-16 , will foster the development of a wide range of devices such as phase-slip junctions 17 or high kinetic inductance detectors 18 .