The atomic distances in hexagonal polytypes of III−V compound semiconductors differ from the values expected from simply a change of the stacking sequence of (111) lattice planes. While these changes were difficult to quantify so far, we accurately determine the lattice parameters of zinc blende, wurtzite, and 4H polytypes for InAs and InSb nanowires, using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The results are compared to density functional theory calculations. Experiment and theory show that the occurrence of hexagonal bilayers tends to stretch the distances of atomic layers parallel to the c axis and to reduce the in-plane distances compared to those in zinc blende. The change of the lattice parameters scales linearly with the hexagonality of the polytype, defined as the fraction of bilayers with hexagonal character within one unit cell.

We report the Au-assisted chemical beam epitaxy growth of defect-free zincblende InSb nanowires. The grown InSb segments are the upper sections of InAs/InSb heterostructures on InAs(111)B substrates. We show, through HRTEM analysis, that zincblende InSb can be grown without any crystal defects such as stacking faults or twinning planes. Strain-map analysis demonstrates that the InSb segment is nearly relaxed within a few nanometers from the interface. By post-growth studies we have found that the catalyst particle composition is AuIn(2), and it can be varied to a AuIn alloy by cooling down the samples under TDMASb flux.

The Josephson effect is a fundamental quantum phenomenon where a dissipationless supercurrent is introduced in a weak link between two superconducting electrodes by Andreev reflections. The physical details and topology of the junction drastically modify the properties of the supercurrent and a strong enhancement of the critical supercurrent is expected to occur when the topology of the junction allows an emergence of Majorana bound states. Here we report charge transport measurements in mesoscopic Josephson junctions formed by InAs nanowires and Ti/Al superconducting leads. Our main observation is a colossal enhancement of the critical supercurrent induced by an external magnetic field applied perpendicular to the substrate. This striking and anomalous supercurrent enhancement cannot be described by any known conventional phenomenon of Josephson junctions. We consider these results in the context of topological superconductivity, and show that the observed critical supercurrent enhancement is compatible with a magnetic field-induced topological transition.