Correlation between two distant quasiparticles in separate superconducting islands mediated by a single spin

Controlled coupling between distant particles is a key requirement for the implementation of quantum information technologies. A promising platform are hybrid systems of semiconducting quantum dots coupled to superconducting islands, where the tunability of the dots is combined with the macroscopic coherence of the islands to produce states with non-local correlations, e.g. in Cooper pair splitters. Electrons in hybrid quantum dots are typically not amenable to long-distance spin alignment as they tend to be screened into a localized singlet state by bound superconducting quasiparticles. However, two quasiparticles coming from different superconductors can overscreen the quantum dot into a doublet state, leading to ferromagnetic correlations between the superconducting islands. We present experimental evidence of a stabilized overscreened state, implying correlated quasiparticles over a micrometer distance. We propose alternating chains of quantum dots and superconducting islands as a novel platform for controllable large-scale spin coupling. The authors experimentally study a chain of superconducting islands (SI) and quantum dots (QD), where a Bogoliubov quasiparticle occupies each SI. They demonstrate correlations between the quasiparticles in each SI mediated by a single spin on the QD, known as an “over-screened" doublet state of the QD.