Precise in situ tuning of the critical current of a superconducting nanowire using high bias voltage pulses

We present a method for in situ tuning of the critical current (or switching current) and critical temperature of a superconducting MoGe nanowire using high bias voltage pulses. Our main finding is that as the pulse voltage is increased, the nanowire demonstrates a reduction, a minimum and then an enhancement of the switching current and critical temperature. Using controlled pulsing, the switching current of a superconducting nanowire can be set exactly to a desired value. These results correlate with in situ transmission electron microscope imaging where an initially amorphous nanowire transforms into a single crystal nanowire by high bias voltage pulses. We compare our transport measurements to a thermally activated model of Little's phase slips in nanowires.