Gate-Tunable Kinetic Inductance in Proximitized Nanowires

Abstract

We report the detection of a gate-tunable kinetic inductance in a hybrid InAs/Al nanowire. For this purpose, we embed the nanowire into a quarter-wave coplanar waveguide resonator and measure the resonance frequency of the circuit. We find that the resonance frequency can be changed via the gate voltage that controls the electron density of the proximitized semiconductor and thus the nanowire inductance. Applying Mattis-Bardeen theory, we extract the gate dependence of the normal-state conductivity of the nanowire, as well as its superconducting gap. Our measurements complement existing characterization methods for hybrid nanowires and provide a useful tool for gate-controlled superconducting electronics.