Recombination of localized quasiparticles in disordered superconductors.

ABSTRACT: Disordered superconductors offer new impedance regimes for quantum circuits, enable a pathway to protected qubits, and can improve superconducting detectors due to their high kinetic inductance and sheet resistance. The performance of these devices can be limited, however, by quasiparticles-the fundamental excitations of a superconductor. While experiments have shown that disorder affects the relaxation of quasiparticles drastically, the microscopic mechanisms are still not understood. We address this issue by measuring quasiparticle relaxation in a disordered β-Ta film, which we pattern as the inductor of a microwave resonator. We observe that quasiparticle recombination is governed by the phonon scattering time, which is faster than conventional recombination in ordered superconductors.

SUBMITTER: de Rooij SAH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12475148 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature