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ABSTRACT A classical battery converts chemical energy into a persistent voltage bias that can power electronic circuits. Similarly, a phase battery is a quantum device that provides a
persistent phase bias to the wave function of a quantum circuit. It represents a key element for quantum technologies based on phase coherence. Here we demonstrate a phase battery in a
hybrid superconducting circuit. It consists of an n-doped InAs nanowire with unpaired-spin surface states, that is proximitized by Al superconducting leads. We find that the ferromagnetic
polarization of the unpaired-spin states is efficiently converted into a persistent phase bias _φ_0 across the wire, leading to the anomalous Josephson effect1,2. We apply an external
in-plane magnetic field and, thereby, achieve continuous tuning of _φ_0. Hence, we can charge and discharge the quantum phase battery. The observed symmetries of the anomalous Josephson
effect in the vectorial magnetic field are in agreement with our theoretical model. Our results demonstrate how the combined action of spin–orbit coupling and exchange interaction induces a
strong coupling between charge, spin and superconducting phase, able to break the phase rigidity of the system. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of
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* Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS THE SUPERCONDUCTING DIODE EFFECT Article 15 September
2023 HIGH-TEMPERATURE JOSEPHSON DIODE Article 06 February 2024 BIPOLAR THERMOELECTRIC JOSEPHSON ENGINE Article 22 September 2022 DATA AVAILABILITY The data that support the findings of this
study are available from corresponding author E.S. upon reasonable request. CODE AVAILABILITY The codes that support the findings of this study are available from corresponding author F.S.B.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work of E.S. was supported by a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IFEF-ST no. 660532-SuperMag). E.S., N.L. and F.G. acknowledge partial financial support from the
European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant no. 615187-COMANCHE. E.S., A.I., O.D., N.L., F.S.B. and F.G. were partially supported by the European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 800923 (SUPERTED). L.S. and V.Z. acknowledge partial support by the SuperTop QuantERA network and the FET Open And QC.
I.V.T., C.S.F. and F.S.B. acknowledge financial support by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades through projects no. FIS2014-55987-P, no. FIS2016-79464-P and no.
FIS2017-82804-P and by the grant ‘Grupos Consolidados UPV/EHU del Gobierno Vasco’ (grant no. IT1249-19). A.B. thanks the CNR-CONICET cooperation programme ‘Energy conversion in quantum
nanoscale hybrid devices’; the SNS-WIS joint laboratory QUANTRA, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; and the Royal Society through the
international exchanges between the United Kingdom and Italy (grant no. IEC R2192166). AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * Mirko Rocci Present address: Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory and
Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa,
Italy Elia Strambini, Andrea Iorio, Alessandro Braggio, Mirko Rocci, Nadia Ligato, Valentina Zannier, Lucia Sorba & Francesco Giazotto * Dipartimento di Fisica ‘E. R. Caianiello’,
Università di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy Ofelia Durante, Roberta Citro & Claudio Guarcello * Centro de Física de Materiales (CFM-MPC), Centro Mixto CSIC-UPV/EHU, San Sebastián, Spain
Cristina Sanz-Fernández, Claudio Guarcello & F. Sebastián Bergeret * Nano-Bio Spectroscopy Group, Departamento de Física de Materiales, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Donostia-San
Sebastián, Spain Ilya V. Tokatly * Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain Ilya V. Tokatly * Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), San Sebastián, Spain F. Sebastián
Bergeret Authors * Elia Strambini View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Andrea Iorio View author publications You can also search for this
author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ofelia Durante View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Roberta Citro View author publications You can also
search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Cristina Sanz-Fernández View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Claudio Guarcello View author
publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ilya V. Tokatly View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Alessandro
Braggio View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Mirko Rocci View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google
Scholar * Nadia Ligato View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Valentina Zannier View author publications You can also search for this author
inPubMed Google Scholar * Lucia Sorba View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * F. Sebastián Bergeret View author publications You can also
search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Francesco Giazotto View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS E.S., A.I. and O.D.
performed the experiment and analysed the data. R.C., C.S.F., C.G., I.V.T., A.B. and F.S.B. provided theoretical support. M.R., N.L. and O.D. fabricated the phase battery on the InAs
nanowires grown by V.Z. and L.S.; E.S. conceived the experiment together with F.G., who supervised the project. E.S., A.I., I.V.T. and F.S.B. wrote the manuscript with feedback from all
authors. CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Elia Strambini, Andrea Iorio, F. Sebastián Bergeret or Francesco Giazotto. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no
competing interests. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary Figs. 1–9, discussion and refs. 1–18. REPORTING SUMMARY RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
CITE THIS ARTICLE Strambini, E., Iorio, A., Durante, O. _et al._ A Josephson phase battery. _Nat. Nanotechnol._ 15, 656–660 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-020-0712-7 Download
citation * Received: 27 January 2020 * Accepted: 12 May 2020 * Published: 15 June 2020 * Issue Date: August 2020 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-020-0712-7 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone
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