Proposal for testing the electric Aharonov-Bohm effect with superconductors

Bachlechner, Thomas C.; Kleban, Matthew

doi:10.1103/physrevb.101.174504

Proposal for testing the electric Aharonov-Bohm effect with superconductors

Journal Article · Mon May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Physical Review B

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.101.174504· OSTI ID:1801925

Bachlechner, Thomas C. ^[1]; ^[2]

Univ. of California San Diego, La Jolla CA (United States); OSTI
New York Univ. (NYU), NY (United States)

The phase of the wave function of charged matter is sensitive to the value of the electric potential, even when the matter never enters any region with nonvanishing electromagnetic fields. Despite its fundamental character, this archetypal electric Aharonov-Bohm effect has evidently never been observed. Here, we propose an experiment to detect the electric potential through its coupling to the superconducting order parameter. A potential difference between two superconductors will induce a relative phase shift that is observable via the DC Josephson effect even when no electromagnetic fields ever act on the superconductors, and even if the potential difference is later reduced to zero. This is a type of electromagnetic memory effect, and would directly demonstrate the physical significance of the electric potential.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); Simons Foundation; USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0009919

OSTI ID:: 1801925

Journal Information:: Physical Review B, Journal Name: Physical Review B Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 101; ISSN 2469-9950

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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