Robert J. Cava’s research while affiliated with Princeton University and other places

The topology of WTe2, a transition metal dichalcogenide with large spin-orbit interactions, is thought to combine type II Weyl semimetal and second-order topological insulator (SOTI) character. The SOTI character should endow WTe2 multilayer crystals with topologically protected helical states at its hinges, and, indeed, 1D states have been detected thanks to Josephson interferometry. However, the immunity to backscattering conferred to those states by their helical nature has so far not been tested. To probe the topological protection of WTe2 edge states, we have fabricated Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) in which the supercurrent through a junction on the crystal edge interferes with the supercurrent through a junction in the bulk of the crystal. We find behaviors ranging from a Symmetric SQUID pattern to asymmetric SQUID patterns, including one in which the modulation by magnetic field reveals a sawtooth-like supercurrent versus phase relation for the edge junction, demonstrating that the supercurrent at the edge is carried by ballistic channels over 600 nm, a tell-tale sign of the SOTI character of WTe2.

Non-centrosymmetric superconducting materials represent an exciting class of novel superconductors featuring a variety of unconventional properties, including mixed-parity pairing and very high upper critical fields. Here, we present a comprehensive study of TaIr2B2 (with Tc = 5.1 K), using a set of complementary experimental methods, including bulk- and surface-sensitive techniques. We provide evidence that this system is a two-band, yet it behaves as a single-gap superconductor with a strong coupling. The upper critical field of TaIr2B2 significantly exceeds the Pauli limit and exhibits a nearly linear temperature dependence down to the lowest temperatures. This behavior, rarely seen in superconductors, is discussed in terms of anti-symmetric spin-orbit interaction, two-band-, and strong-coupling effects, as well as disorder.

Non-centrosymmetric superconducting materials represent an exciting class of novel superconductors featuring a variety of unconventional properties, including mixed-parity pairing and very high upper critical fields. Here, we present a comprehensive study of TaIr$_2$B$_2$ (with $T_c$ = 5.1 K), using a set of complementary experimental methods, including bulk- and surface-sensitive techniques. We provide evidence that this system is a two-band, yet it behaves as a single-gap superconductor with a strong coupling. The upper critical field of TaIr$_2$B$_2$ significantly exceeds the Pauli limit and exhibits a nearly linear temperature dependence down to the lowest temperatures. This behavior, rarely seen in superconductors, is discussed in terms of anti-symmetric spin-orbit interaction, two-band-, and strong-coupling effects, as well as disorder.

Entanglement between photons and a quantum memory is a key component of quantum repeaters, which allow long-distance quantum entanglement distribution in the presence of fiber losses. Spin-photon entanglement has been implemented with a number of different atomic and solid-state qubits with long spin coherence times, but none directly emit photons into the 1.5 − μ m telecom band where losses in optical fibers are minimized. Here, we demonstrate spin-photon entanglement using a single rare earth ion in the solid-state Er 3 + coupled to a silicon nanophotonic cavity, which directly emits photons at 1532.6 nm. We infer an entanglement fidelity of 73(3)% after propagating through 15.6 km of optical fiber. This work opens the door to large-scale quantum networks based Er 3 + ions, leveraging scalable silicon device fabrication and spectral multiplexing. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

The synthesis, structural, magnetic, thermal and transport properties are reported for polycrystalline PrIr3. At room temperature PrIr3 displays the rhombohedral space group R-3m and a PuNi3- type structure. At around 70 K a phase transition to a monoclinic C2/m structure is observed and continued cooling reveals temperature independent behavior of the unit cell volume. Further, PrIr3 undergoes a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition with T_C = 7.5 K. The temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility follows the Curie Weiss law with a positive Curie-Weiss temperature, and an effective moment that is close to the theoretical effective moment for a free Pr+3 ion. This introduces further complexity into the behavior of PuNi3 - type materials and highlights the importance of temperature-dependent structural studies to complement physical property measurements in intermetallic compounds.

Materials improvements are a powerful approach to reducing loss and decoherence in superconducting qubits because such improvements can be readily translated to large scale processors. Recent work improved transmon coherence by utilizing tantalum (Ta) as a base layer and sapphire as a substrate. The losses in these devices are dominated by two-level systems (TLSs) with comparable contributions from both the surface and bulk dielectrics, indicating that both must be tackled to achieve major improvements in the state of the art. Here we show that replacing the substrate with high-resistivity silicon (Si) dramatically decreases the bulk substrate loss, enabling 2D transmons with time-averaged quality factors (Q) exceeding 1.5 x 10^7, reaching a maximum Q of 2.5 x 10^7, corresponding to a lifetime (T_1) of up to 1.68 ms. This low loss allows us to observe decoherence effects related to the Josephson junction, and we use improved, low-contamination junction deposition to achieve Hahn echo coherence times (T_2E) exceeding T_1. We achieve these material improvements without any modifications to the qubit architecture, allowing us to readily incorporate standard quantum control gates. We demonstrate single qubit gates with 99.994% fidelity. The Ta-on-Si platform comprises a simple material stack that can potentially be fabricated at wafer scale, and therefore can be readily translated to large-scale quantum processors.

We present terahertz spectroscopic measurements of quantum spin dynamics in the honeycomb magnet K$_2$Co$_2$TeO$_6$ as a function of temperature, polarization and in an external magnetic field applied in the honeycomb plane. Magnetic excitations are resolved below the magnetic ordering temperature of $T_\text{N}$ = 12 K. In the applied magnetic field, we reveal characteristic field dependence not only for the magnetic excitations observed at zero field, but also a rich set of modes emerging in finite fields. The observed magnetic excitations exhibit clear dependence on the terahertz polarization, and characteristic features at field-induced phase transitions consistent with our high-field magnetization data. We cannot evidently resolve a continuumlike feature, even when the long-range magnetic order is presumably suppressed in the strong magnetic field, indicating that a Kitaev-type interaction, if existing, is subleading in this compound.

The lifetime of superconducting qubits is limited by dielectric loss, and a major source of dielectric loss is the native oxide present at the surface of the superconducting metal. Specifically, tantalum-based superconducting qubits have been demonstrated with record lifetimes, but a major source of loss is the presence of two-level systems in the surface tantalum oxide. Here, we demonstrate a strategy for avoiding oxide formation by encapsulating the tantalum with noble metals that do not form native oxide. By depositing a few nanometers of Au or AuPd alloy before breaking vacuum, we completely suppress tantalum oxide formation. Microwave loss measurements of superconducting resonators reveal that the noble metal is proximitized, with a superconducting gap over 80% of the bare tantalum at thicknesses where the oxide is fully suppressed. Our findings suggest that losses in resonators fabricated by subtractive etching are dominated by oxides on the sidewalls, pointing to total surface encapsulation by additive fabrication as a promising strategy for eliminating surface oxide two-level system loss in superconducting qubits.

Tantalum (Ta) based superconducting circuits have been demonstrated to enable record qubit coherence times and quality factors, motivating a careful study of the microscopic origin of the remaining losses that limit their performance. We have recently shown that the losses in Ta-based resonators are dominated by two-level systems (TLSs) at low microwave powers and millikelvin temperatures. We also observe that some devices exhibit loss that is exponentially activated at a lower temperature inconsistent with the superconducting critical temperature (Tc) of the constituent film. Specifically, dc resistivity measurements show a Tc of over 4 K, while microwave measurements of resonators fabricated from these films show losses that increase exponentially with temperature with an activation energy as low as 0.3 K. Here, we present a comparative study of the structural and thermodynamic properties of Ta-based resonators and identify vortex motion-induced loss as the source of thermally activated microwave loss. Through careful magnetoresistance and x-ray diffraction measurements, we observe that the increased loss occurs for films that are in the clean limit, where the superconducting coherence length is shorter than the mean free path. Vortex motion-induced losses are suppressed for films in the dirty limit, which show evidence of structural defects that can pin vortices. We verify this hypothesis by explicitly pinning vortices via patterning and find that we can suppress the loss by microfabrication.