Microscopic mechanism of electric-field-induced phase-slip enhancement

Determine the microscopic mechanism through which an applied electric field modifies the phase-slip rate in a fully suspended amorphous MoGe superconducting nanowire.

Background

The paper demonstrates that a gate voltage strongly enhances the phase-slip escape rate in a suspended MoGe nanowire while excluding substrate-mediated leakage, substantial cold-electron field emission, and purely electromechanical explanations. The enhancement is exponential in gate voltage, produces anomalous log-convex current dependence, and is asymmetric under gate-polarity reversal.

The authors discuss gate-induced correlations between quantum phase slips and coupling to local electromagnetic or polarization modes as possible explanations, but do not establish a microscopic theory that accounts for all observed features. Identifying this mechanism is therefore left as an unresolved problem motivating future studies of suspended superconductors.

References

The microscopic mechanism through which the electric field affects the phase slip rate remains unclear.

— Gate-driven Switching Dynamics in a Fully Suspended Superconducting Nanowire  (2610.09806 - Rog et al., 7 Oct 2026) in Conclusion, Section conclusion

Moreover, considering given the vacuum separation between the gate and the sample, it is not clear that any gate heating should affect the nanowire at all.

— Gate-driven Switching Dynamics in a Fully Suspended Superconducting Nanowire  (2610.09806 - Rog et al., 7 Oct 2026) in Results and Discussion, paragraph discussing gate-polarity asymmetry