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Manipulating Majorana fermions using supercurrents

Alessandro Romito, Jason Alicea, Gil Refael, and Felix von Oppen
Phys. Rev. B 85, 020502(R) – Published 6 January 2012

Abstract

Topological insulator edges and spin-orbit-coupled quantum wires in proximity to s-wave superconductors can be tuned through a topological quantum phase transition by a Zeeman field. Here we show that a supercurrent flowing in the s-wave superconductor also drives such a transition. We propose to use this mechanism to generate and manipulate Majorana fermions that localize at domain walls between topological and nontopological regions of an edge or wire. In quantum wires, this method carries the added benefit that a supercurrent reduces the critical Zeeman field at which the topological phase appears.

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  • Received 8 November 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.020502

©2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Alessandro Romito1, Jason Alicea2, Gil Refael3, and Felix von Oppen1

  • 1Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, DE-14195 Berlin, Germany
  • 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

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Issue

Vol. 85, Iss. 2 — 1 January 2012

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