Zero-Bias Anomaly in a Nanowire Quantum Dot Coupled to Superconductors

Abstract

We studied the low-energy states of spin-1/2 quantum dots defined in InAs/InP nanowires and coupled to aluminum superconducting leads. By varying the superconducting gap (\Delta) with a magnetic field B we investigated the transition from strong coupling (\Delta \ll T_K) to weak-coupling (\Delta \gg T_K) , where (T_K) is the Kondo temperature. Below the critical field, we observe a persisting zero-bias Kondo resonance that vanishes only for low B or higher temperatures, leaving the room to more robust subgap structures at bias voltages between (\Delta) and (2 \Delta). For strong and approximately symmetric tunnel couplings, a Josephson supercurrent is observed in addition to the Kondo peak. We ascribe the coexistence of a Kondo resonance and a superconducting gap to a significant density of intragap quasiparticle states, and the finite-bias subgap structures to tunneling through Shiba states. Our results, supported by numerical calculations, own relevance also in relation to tunnel-spectroscopy experiments aiming at the observation of Majorana fermions in hybrid nanostructures.