Majorana fermions in ferromagnetic chains on the surface of bulk spin-orbit coupled s-wave superconductors

Scientific Reports
Hoi-Yin HuiS Das Sarma

Abstract

Majorana fermion (MF) excitations in solid state system have non-Abelian statistics which is essential for topological quantum computation. Previous proposals to realize MF, however, generally requires fine-tuning of parameters. Here we explore a platform which avoids the fine-tuning problem, namely a ferromagnetic chain deposited on the surface of a spin-orbit coupled s-wave superconductor. We show that it generically supports zero-energy topological MF excitations near the two ends of the chain with minimal fine-tuning. Depending on the strength of the ferromagnetic moment in the chain, the number of MFs at each end, n, can be either one or two, and should be revealed by a robust zero-bias peak (ZBP) of height 2 ne(2)/h in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements which would show strong (weak) signals at the ends (middle) of the chain. The role of an approximate chiral symmetry which gives an integer topological invariant to the system is discussed.

References

Nov 13, 2008·Physical Review Letters·Chuanwei ZhangS Das Sarma
Aug 8, 2009·Physical Review Letters·Masatoshi SatoSatoshi Fujimoto
Apr 7, 2010·Physical Review Letters·K T LawT K Ng
Jan 15, 2011·Physical Review Letters·Yuval OregFelix von Oppen
Apr 27, 2011·Physical Review Letters·Roman M LutchynS Das Sarma
Sep 26, 2012·Physical Review Letters·Matthias MenzelRoland Wiesendanger
Nov 19, 2013·Physical Review Letters·Jelena KlinovajaDaniel Loss
Dec 3, 2013·Physical Review Letters·M M Vazifeh, M Franz

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Citations

Oct 3, 2015·Physical Review Letters·Jay D Sau, P M R Brydon
Oct 19, 2016·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Tilen Čadež, Pedro D Sacramento
Oct 16, 2015·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·P D Sacramento
Sep 17, 2016·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Yu-Qin ChenXiong-Jun Liu
Sep 26, 2020·Physical Review Letters·Vivien PerrinPascal Simon
Jul 22, 2015·Physical Review Letters·Younghyun KimRoman M Lutchyn
May 9, 2015·Physical Review Letters·H SchomerusC W J Beenakker

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