Visualizing dissipative charge-carrier dynamics at the nanoscale with superconducting-charge-qubit microscopy
The investigation of novel electronic phases in low-dimensional quantum materials demands for the concurrent development of measurement techniques that combine surface sensitivity with high spatial resolution and high measurement accuracy. We propose a new quantum sensing imaging modality based on superconducting charge qubits to study dissipative charge carrier dynamics with nanometer spatial and high temporal resolution. Using analytical and numerical calculations we show that superconducting charge qubit microscopy (SCQM) has the potential to resolve temperature and resistivity changes in a sample as small as ∆T ≤ 0.1 mK and ∆ρ ≤ 1 · 10 Ω · cm, respectively. Among other applications, SCQM will be especially suited to study the microscopic mechanisms underlying resistive phase transition, such as the superconductor-insulator-transition in twisted bilayer graphene, to investigate novel topological boundary modes found in higher order topological insulators and to optimize the transport properties of nanoand mesoscopic devices.